Once by the Pacific
Robert Frost
The shattered water made a misty din.
Great waves looked over others coming in,
And thought of doing something to the shore
That water never did to land before.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies, 5
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
You could not tell, and yet it looked as if
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
10
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken
Before God’s last Put out the Light was spoken.
Making Meanings
Once by the Pacific
1. Describe the scene presented in the poem. What does the scene remind the
speaker of?
2. Explain what you think the speaker means by “a night of dark intent /. . .
not only a night, an age” (lines 10–11). Whose “intent” is he referring to?
3. Who do you think is the “someone” who “had better be prepared for rage” (line
12)? Whose “rage”?
4. Besides ocean water, what else might be “broken” during that rage?
5. “Put out the light” is something anyone might say on an ordinary evening at
home. How does the use of this casual, domestic phrase make the poem’s message
even more chilling? What would you say that message is?
6. The poem’s title suggests that Frost is describing a scene he once saw as he
gazed at the Pacific Ocean. What larger event might this scene symbolize?
7. Do you view this poem as a warning? Or, do you think Frost is just expressing
a certain philosophy of life? Explain what the warning might be, or discuss the
philosophy revealed in the poem.