ANALYSIS POEM

This is a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement to Pass

English Poetry

Tought by:
Dra. Rudy Satriyadi

Presented by:
Afit Prafitri H 0611100303
Linda Dian P 061110

College of Foreign Language (STIBA) Malang

2009
"The Silken Tent" by Robert Frost

She is as in a field a silken tent

At midday when a sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,

And its supporting central cedar pole,

That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,

But strictly held by none, is loosely bound

By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,
And only by one's going slightly taut

In the capriciousness of summer air

Is of the slightest bondage made aware.
 The Analysis of “The Silken Tent” by Robert Frost

Robert Frost is considered the quintessential New England poet. Frost is not writing a
shapeless poem. He is writing within very strict rules, and in fact has raised the bar by
making himself do it all in one sentence. In “The Silken Tent” poem he compares a woman
and a silken tent in order to make some essential aspect of the woman’s character real and
available to the reader. The imagery of this poem is consistent from the first line in the first
stanza until the last stanza. A silken tent as a symbol of woman’s characteristic.
This poem is such a Shakespearean sonnet as its rhyme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
This poem consists of 4 stanzas and fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. Each line has 10
syllables and 8 stressed syllable. The meter of this poem is called iambic pentameter as every
line has 5 iambics. For example “has DRIED the DEW and ALL its ROPES relent”. This
poem also can be called has a closed form because Shakespearean sonnet has a certain form
to be followed and it cannot be substitute with other form, that is the rhyme and meter.
The choice of the word in Frost’s work “The Silken Tent” is informal. It can be seen
from every word in this poem. There is no old English word that is very difficult to
understand, but instead its words are understandable. The whole poem is like a long single
sentence and it sounds conversational.
In first line “She is as in a field a silken tent” is simile because it is a comparison
between woman (she) and silken tent with “as” as a connector. In the second line “a sunny
summer breeze has dried the dew and all its ropes relent” is personification as dried from
word dry is man attribute. “It gentle sways at ease” in the fourth line is personification.
“That is its pinnacle to heavenward” is hyperbole in the second stanza in second line.
The theme of this poem is simply about woman, especially woman’s characteristics.
Through this poem Frost wants to compare a woman with a silken tent. The comparison is
not to just any tent, but to a tent imagined in a very specific way. In this case, the tent is
imagined at midday. Any morning drew which would have soaked the tent’s guy-lines has
evaporated, and the ropes are now rather weak. The tent sways slightly in response to the
wind. A sense that the woman being described is instead genial, relaxed, comfortable to be
around. “Countless silken ties of love and thought” mean woman character derives in part at
least from her deep investment in friends, family and community. Woman and those around
them are only likely to be aware of their bounds and limits in unusual circumstances. In
common, this poem shows the essential of a woman’s characteristic. Woman’s essential
character is friendly and gentle as if woman is weak, yet she is strong.