Question

The well was dry beside the door,
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook if still it ran;

Not loth to have excuse to go,
Because the autumn eve was fair
(Though chill) because the fields were ours,
And by the brook our woods were there.

We ran as if to meet the moon
That slowly dawned behind the trees,
The barren boughs without the leaves,
Without the birds, without the breeze.

But once within the wood, we paused
Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,
Ready to run to hiding new
With laughter when she found us soon.

Each laid on other a staying hand
To listen ere we dared to look,
And in the hush we joined to make
We heard—we knew we heard—the brook.

A note as from a single place,
A slender tinkling fall that made
Now drops that floated on the pool
Like pearls, and now a silver blade.

___

Adapted from “Going for Water,” in A Boy’s Will, by Robert Frost, Public domain.


Questions
Which of the following statements should be included in a summary of the poem?

The first stanza introduces the mood as confusing and problematic.

The first stanza introduces a solution to the problem the speaker is facing.

The fourth stanza creates tension for the children as they hide from the moon.

The last stanza creates a somber mood as the children do not actually get the water.

Answer 1

Include:
- The first stanza introduces a solution to the problem the speaker is facing.
(The well is dry, so they take pails and go across the fields to seek the brook.)
- The fourth stanza creates tension for the children as they hide from the moon.
(They pause “like gnomes,” ready to run and hide, which creates a playful-but-tense moment.)

Do not include:
- The first stanza introduces the mood as confusing and problematic.
(It states a clear problem and action, not confusion.)
- The last stanza creates a somber mood as the children do not actually get the water.
(The final images are lyrical and positive—the children hear the brook and its “slender tinkling fall,” not a somber failure.)