New Hampshire · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for New Hampshire by Robert Frost.
Chapter 1
New Hampshire
The narrator reflects on encounters with people from other states who boast or complain about their regions, contrasting their commercial attitudes with New Hampshire's lack of interest in selling anything. He describes an old friend who returned from California ashamed of having sold 'old rags,' and praises New Hampshire for having just one specimen of everything, not for sale. The poem explores themes of commerce, authenticity, regional identity, and the tension between nature and human ambition.
Chapter 2
A Star in a Stone-Boat
The narrator reflects on a fallen star that a laborer mistook for a stone and used to build a wall, contemplating the loss of wonder and the mundane fate of celestial objects. He searches for meaning in stone walls and the sky, finding a flawed but complete world in his hands.
Chapter 3
The Census-Taker
The narrator, acting as a census-taker, visits a remote, dilapidated house in a desolate mountain area, only to find no one living there. He reflects on the emptiness, decay, and the melancholy of counting souls in a place where people have vanished, ultimately declaring the area deserted.
Chapter 4
The Star-Splitter
Brad McLaughlin, a failed farmer, burns down his house for insurance money to buy a telescope, fulfilling a lifelong curiosity about humanity's place in the universe. The narrator recounts the town's mixed reactions—mockery and forgiveness—and describes nights spent stargazing with Brad, questioning whether such cosmic observation truly improves our understanding.
Chapter 5
Maple
The poem explores the life of a woman named Maple, whose unusual name given by her dying mother shapes her identity and marriage. She and her husband search for the meaning behind her name, ultimately accepting its mystery as a defining force.
Chapter 6
The Axe-Helve
The narrator recounts an encounter with his neighbor Baptiste, who stops him while he is chopping wood to critique his machine-made axe-helve. Baptiste invites the narrator to his home to select a handcrafted hickory helve, and their conversation touches on knowledge, education, and neighborly connection.
Chapter 7
The Grindstone
The narrator reflects on a grindstone that has remained stationary despite all efforts to move it, now standing idle under an apple tree in winter. He recalls a summer day when he and an older man, a Father-Time-like figure, worked together to grind a blade, a labor that became a bitter, competitive struggle. The narrator questions the fairness of the work, the cost of effort, and the fear of over-grinding the blade, ultimately expressing a desire for mutual satisfaction.
Chapter 8
Paul's Wife
The chapter explores the mystery of Paul's wife, a subject that causes Paul to vanish from any lumber camp when mentioned. Various rumors circulate about why he reacts this way, but Murphy's story reveals that Paul actually carved his wife from a hollow white-pine log. She emerged from water as a beautiful girl, and the two were seen keeping house in the wilderness. Paul's possessiveness leads him to keep her hidden from the world.
Chapter 9
Wild Grapes
A woman recounts a childhood memory of being lifted into a birch tree by her brother while gathering grapes, an experience that left her clinging desperately and taught her a lasting lesson about holding on with the heart, not letting go.
Chapter 10
Place for a Third
Eliza, having been married three times to three different men, expresses her dying wish to not be buried with her two previous husbands. Laban, her current husband, initially plans to buy her a separate grave but then considers burying her with her first love, John. He approaches John's sister for permission, but she refuses, citing Eliza's many marriages. Laban ultimately falls back on his original plan to buy Eliza a solitary plot.
Chapter 11
Two Witches
The chapter presents two dramatic monologues about women accused of witchcraft in rural New England. In 'The Witch of Coös,' a mother and son reveal a skeleton in the attic, which the mother claims came up from the cellar after her husband killed a man for her. In 'The Pauper Witch of Grafton,' a woman disputes the town records about her husband's identity and her own reputation as a witch, asserting her agency and challenging the towns' claims over her.
Chapter 12
I: The Witch of Coös
A mother and son, two old-believers, recount the story of a skeleton that emerged from the cellar of their farmhouse forty years ago. The mother describes how she confronted the bones, struck off a hand, and with her husband Toffile trapped the skeleton in the attic. The son reveals that the bones belonged to a man his father killed for the mother, a secret they have kept until now.
Chapter 13
II: The Pauper Witch of Grafton
The narrator, an elderly woman identified as a witch, disputes the legal settlement of her town residence between Warren and Wentworth. She argues that the record of Arthur Amy having been up for Hog Reeve in Warren is false because the Arthur Amy she married was only fifteen at the time and voted in Wentworth. She recounts her history with Arthur Amy, including the incident with Mallice Huse, and reflects on her life as a witch and her relationship with Arthur.
Chapter 14
An Empty Threat
The narrator contemplates staying in a remote, icy wilderness, reflecting on the fur trade and the solitary company of Joe (also called John), a French Indian Eskimo trapper. The poem evokes the ghost of Henry Hudson's failed expedition and the haunting presence of the Great Auk, suggesting that clear defeat may be preferable to victories clouded by doubt.
Chapter 15
A Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey’s Ears and Some Books
The narrator and Old Davis search for a Mormon baptismal font on Kinsman Mountain, but instead find a painted bottle and a formation resembling donkey's ears. Davis then leads the narrator to a deserted house where they discover the unsold books of the bedridden poetess Clara Robinson, whose poems have been scattered and damaged by vandals.
Chapter 16
I Will Sing You One-O
The narrator lies awake at night, waiting for the tower clock to strike the hour. The snow falls heavily, and two winds clash. The clock finally strikes one, followed by other steeples. The bells speak of celestial bodies—sun, moon, stars, planets, and constellations—and of the cosmic order beyond human understanding, hinting at the vastness and permanence of the universe contrasted with human strife.
Chapter 17
Grace Notes
This chapter presents a collection of lyric poems that explore themes of nature, transience, mortality, and the search for truth and meaning. Poems like 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' and 'Fire and Ice' meditate on impermanence and destruction, while 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' and 'The Onset' reflect on solitude, duty, and the cyclical renewal of life. Other pieces, such as 'For Once, Then, Something' and 'The Aim Was Song,' delve into perception, artistic creation, and the elusive nature of truth.
Chapter 18
Fragmentary Blue
The poem questions why we celebrate small glimpses of blue in nature—birds, butterflies, flowers, stones, or eyes—when the sky itself offers a vast, solid blue. It suggests that earth is not yet heaven, though some scholars argue the sky is part of earth, and that the distant blue only sharpens our desire for it.
Chapter 19
Fire and Ice
A brief meditation on two possible ends of the world—fire and ice—and the speaker's personal reflections on desire and hate as forces of destruction.
Chapter 20
In a Disused Graveyard
The poem reflects on a disused graveyard where the living visit to read the gravestones, but the dead no longer come. The verses on the stones predict that today's living visitors will eventually become the dead who stay, yet the poet notes that no dead seem to arrive, questioning what people fear. The speaker suggests that if one told the stones that men hate to die and have stopped dying forever, the stones might believe the lie.
Chapter 21
Dust of Snow
A brief encounter with a crow shaking snow from a hemlock tree alters the speaker's mood, transforming a day of regret into one of redemption.
Chapter 22
To E. T.
The narrator reflects on a fallen soldier-poet, E. T., lamenting the words left unsaid between them and the loss felt both during the war and in the years after.
Chapter 23
Nothing Gold Can Stay
A brief poem reflecting on the transient nature of beauty and innocence, using imagery of nature's first green, early leaves, Eden, and dawn to illustrate that golden moments are fleeting and cannot endure.
Chapter 24
The Runaway
A speaker and companion observe a young Morgan colt panicking in the falling snow, bolting and returning to a mountain pasture wall. The speaker interprets the colt's fear as a lack of winter-hardiness and criticizes whoever left him out so late, urging that he be taken in.
Chapter 25
The Aim Was Song
A reflection on how humanity imposes order and intention upon the natural world, transforming the untamed wind into structured song through breath and measure.
Chapter 26
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
A traveler pauses in the woods on a snowy evening, captivated by the beauty and stillness of the scene, but is reminded of obligations and the long journey ahead.
Chapter 27
For Once, Then, Something
The speaker reflects on the taunts of others who accuse him of kneeling at well-curbs without ever seeing deeper than his own reflection. He describes a rare moment when he glimpsed something white and uncertain beyond the surface image, only to lose it when a drop of water disturbed the reflection. The poem questions whether that whiteness was truth or merely a pebble of quartz.
Chapter 28
Blue-Butterfly Day
The poem describes a spring day filled with blue butterflies, which are compared to sky-flakes and flying flowers. They bring a burst of color before the flowers bloom, but eventually they settle and cling to the ground where wagon wheels have cut through the April mud.
Chapter 29
The Onset
The speaker reflects on a winter night when snow falls heavily in the dark woods, evoking a sense of impending death and the futility of human effort. Yet he recalls that winter has never permanently defeated the earth; spring will return, melting the snow and revealing signs of life.
Chapter 30
To Earthward
The speaker reflects on the evolution of love and sensation from youthful sweetness to a mature craving for pain and earthly roughness, finding that joy now requires the salt of weariness and fault.
Chapter 31
Good-Bye and Keep Cold
The speaker bids farewell to a young orchard as winter approaches, expressing concern over the various threats it faces from animals and weather, and emphasizing the importance of keeping it cold to protect it. He must leave to tend to other trees, trusting the orchard's fate ultimately to God.
Chapter 32
Two Look at Two
A couple, halted by a tumbled wall on a mountain path at night, encounters a doe and then a buck who observe them across the wall. The animals pass unscared, and the couple feels a profound sense of connection, as if the earth itself has returned their love.
Chapter 33
Not to Keep
A soldier returns home to his wife after being wounded in war. The letter announcing his return arrives, and she is relieved to find him alive and not visibly disfigured. However, he reveals that his wound, though not fatal, will heal only enough for him to be sent back to fight again. The poem captures the painful cycle of war and the temporary nature of his return.
Chapter 34
A Brook in the City
The poem reflects on a farm house that now stands incongruously within a modern city street, and mourns the loss of a once-living brook that has been buried underground in a sewer. The speaker recalls intimate interactions with the brook and questions how an immortal natural force can be disposed of, suggesting that the buried brook's suppressed thoughts may disturb the city's peace.
Chapter 35
The Kitchen Chimney
The speaker instructs the builder on constructing a kitchen chimney, insisting it must be built from the ground up rather than on a shelf, citing practical concerns about fire safety, structural integrity, and the ominous signs of a false chimney, while contrasting the functional purpose of a shelf with the impracticality of a chimney that evokes airy castles.
Chapter 36
Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter
The speaker recalls a summer bird with an angelic song that sang in a tree, but in the dead of winter, no bird is found—only a single leaf and a piercing star through the cold sky.
Chapter 37
A Boundless Moment
The narrator and a companion pause in a March wind, mistaking a distant pale shape in the maples for a spring bloom. After a moment of shared illusion, the narrator admits the truth: it is merely a young beech tree still holding last year's leaves.
Chapter 38
Evening in a Sugar Orchard
The narrator, lingering outside a sugar-house on a March night, asks the fireman to stoke the fire so that sparks rise among the maple boughs. The sparks, mingling with the moonlight, form constellations in the trees, while the scene is set with buckets on the maples and a bear-skin rug of snow on the ground.
Chapter 39
Gathering Leaves
The speaker describes the futile and repetitive task of gathering leaves, likening the spades to spoons and the bags to balloons. Despite the great noise and effort, the leaves are weightless, colorless, and useless, yet the speaker persists, questioning where the harvest should stop.
Chapter 40
The Valley’s Singing Day
The speaker reflects on a quiet morning when a single person's early awakening and footfall stirs the first songbird, which then awakens all the rest, initiating the valley's full chorus of birdsong at dawn. The speaker, still asleep under a dripping roof, affirms they will later confirm this story of how the day's music began.
Chapter 41
Misgiving
The poem reflects on leaves that follow the wind but are overcome by sleep and reluctance, ultimately choosing to stay rather than continue their flight. The speaker hopes that when they are free to seek knowledge beyond life, they will not similarly prefer to rest.
Chapter 42
A Hillside Thaw
The narrator describes the phenomenon of snow melting on a hillside under the sun, creating the illusion of millions of silver lizards racing down the slope. He reflects on the impossibility of capturing or stopping them, and contrasts the sun's magic with the moon's spell, which freezes the lizards into rock-like stillness until dawn.
Chapter 43
Plowmen
A brief, ironic poem about plowing snow, suggesting the futility of cultivating barren rock.
Chapter 44
On a Tree Fallen Across the Road
The poem presents a fallen tree as a temporary obstacle that challenges our sense of self-importance and determination, ultimately asserting that we will not be deterred from our final goal, even if we must venture into the unknown.
Chapter 45
Our Singing Strength
A spring snowstorm blankets the landscape, initially failing to stick but eventually covering the ground. The narrator observes how the storm affects the birds, which flock to the road as the only clear space. Despite the harsh conditions, the birds' collective presence and song symbolize a resilient, latent vitality that will burst forth when spring returns.
Chapter 46
The Lockless Door
After many years, a knock at the door prompts the speaker to reflect on a door without a lock. Instead of answering, the speaker extinguishes the light, prays, and escapes through a window, only to invite the knocker in from outside. The poem explores themes of fear, evasion, and transformation through aging.
Chapter 47
The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
A house has burned down, leaving only the chimney standing like a pistil after petals fall. The barn across the way survives, but no longer serves its purpose. Birds come and go through broken windows, their murmurs reminiscent of human sighs over the past. Yet nature continues its cycles—lilacs leaf, elms grow, the pump and fence post remain. The birds are not sad, but one must be versed in country things to understand that the phoebes are not weeping.
Chapter 48
Endnotes
This chapter provides endnotes referencing various poems and lines from the book, directing readers to specific works such as 'The Axe-Helve,' 'A Star in a Stone-Boat,' 'The Witch of Coös,' 'The Census-Taker,' 'The Star-Splitter,' 'Wild Grapes,' 'A Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey's Ears and Some Books,' 'Maple,' 'The Pauper Witch of Grafton,' 'The Grindstone,' 'Paul's Wife,' 'An Empty Threat,' and 'I Will Sing You One-O.'
