Analysis of The Silken Tent by Robert Frost

The Silken Tent

By Robert Frost 

She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when the 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 every thing 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 poem begins with a simile of the woman in question and a silken tent.  The second line goes on to place and deepen the context wherein she assumes the qualities of the tent, in this case midday amidst a summer breeze.  It lends itself to alliteration with the catchy phrase sunny summer breeze.  The third line of the poem has the interesting phrase and all it's ropes relent.  This is another bout of alliteration but there's also something subtle about the ideas of her ropes relenting.   Relent means to slacken or become less severe.  So there's some sense of freedom from tautness that a rope might impose upon her.   The next line uses an archaic seldom used meaning with guys which means a pinion holding down a rope for a tent.  Here the poem rhymes breeze with ease and will keep this ABAB rhyme scheme until the end rhyme composed of the last two lines.  The next line speaks of it's pinnacle which is the top of the tent swaying skyward.  The narration then explaines this part of the metaphor to mean the sureness of the soul.  We can take it to mean a sort of confidence or faith, which couples well with heavenward in the preceding line.

The next two lines posits that this sureness of the soul is not due any one rope,  and each is bound loosely.  These silken ties that hold her and bellow her up are finally characterized as love and thought, and they are countless in number.   Here the narration intimates that these strands oflove and thought tie her to each thing on earth.  The last three lines wrap it up nicely.   One silken line goes  taut in the whimsy of summer air and make evident as the slightest bondage.