Robert Frost's Poem For Once, Then, Something

In the poem “For Once, Then, Something,” the speaker recalls a time when he had encountered something in a well, and his uncertainty about the something at the bottom of the well led to his desire to have his knowledge confirmed. Frost’s choices of words, images, diction, and tone in the narrative poem “For Once, Then, Something” reflects the uncertainty of the speaker. Through Frost’s diction, imagery, and allusions, the speaker seeks the truth and clarity of knowledge that creates tones of wistfulness and desire. The poem’s diction is fairly simple so that educated and uneducated people alike would be able to read and understand the poem somewhat easily. Because Frost prided himself upon being accessible and relatable to all people,

The speaker sees his “godlike” face reflected upon the water, looking through “a wreath of fern and cloud puffs” (5). The comparison of the speaker’s face to a “godlike” face is a very bold and implies the speaker’s self-centered and egotistical attitude. The first line of this image shows the speaker’s indifference to others taunting him, and it appears that the speaker seems to prioritize his knowledge or assumed knowledge over the people who taunt him. The speaker never mentions that he looks into the well from a different angle, possibly because of his refusal to view the well from the perspective of those who taunt

Once, while looking into the well, the speaker sees beyond the surface and notices something white. Yet before he can clearly see the something and analyze it, a water droplet falls from a fern into the well and the ripples obscure the speaker’s vision once again. The speaker is very uncertain as to what he finally sees but recognizes that it’s something from the depths of the water, unlike his reflection on top of the