Richard: I usually agree with you on these matters, but
even in the six lines you quoted, you'll note that with
the exception of the word "Apples" as a trochee substituted
in one line, ALL these lines are iambic. That doesn't make
the poem free verse, any more than any poem in a nonce
stanza by Herbert, Hardy, or Wilbur--a poem using different
line lengths--is free verse. Besides rhyming, the poem is in meter!
Nor do I think anyone on the
board would have pummeled Frost for it. One of the great
beauties of this poem IS its very willingness to go catch
the last train for the last rhyme before it's done.
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