4. The Runaway Introducing the Selection
Experiencing something for the first time can sometimes seem frightening.

5. The Runaway Introducing the Selection
Imagine that you’ve never seen or heard of snow. How might you react to your first snowstorm?
Read “The Runaway.”
Find out how a colt reacts to its first snow.
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6. The Runaway Reading Skills Focus: Reading a Poem
In “The Runaway,” Frost imagines what the colt’s mother might say.
His tone is informal, like a conversation.
When reading the poem aloud, read as if you were talking to a friend . . .
. . . and pay attention to the punctuation!

7. The Runaway Reading Skills Focus: Reading a Poem
Into Action: Follow this advice as you read Frost’s poem.
STOP
Make a full stop at a period or question mark.
We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, “Whose colt?”
If there is no punctuation at the end of a line, don’t stop: Keep reading.
no punctuation, no pause
. . . He dipped his head
And snorted at us.
“The Runaway” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1923, © 1969 by Henry Holt and Company; copyright © 1951 by Robert Frost. Reproduced by permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

8. The Runaway Reading Skills Focus: Reading a Poem
Pause briefly at a comma, semicolon, or dash.
We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, “Whose colt?”
SLOW
If a poem has no punctuation, look for thought groups.
Spring sprang and the rains fell with their soft slanting promises of flowers I remember promises and flowers
do you
STOP
“The Runaway” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1923, © 1969 by Henry Holt and Company; copyright © 1951 by Robert Frost. Reproduced by permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
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9. Content Questions What question does the speaker have about the colt?
How is the colt behaving?
What does the speaker think is the colt’s problem?
What does the speaker imagine about the colt’s mother?
What does the speaker think should be done for the colt?

10. The Runaway Literary Skills Focus: Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme
What do you notice about these words?
slate
exaggerate
investigate
relate
weight
trait
These words rhyme—that is, the sound of the last syllable in each of these words is the same. Think of words that rhyme with
toast
invest
think
That was easy, wasn’t it? Rhyming comes naturally for most people.

11. The Runaway Literary Skills Focus: Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme
Rhymes at the ends of lines in a poem are called end rhymes. End rhymes determine a poem’s rhyme scheme, or pattern of rhymes.
When I dance, a
Assign a letter of the alphabet to each new end rhyme:
my feet fly. b
It’s not a trance, a
but time whizzes by. b
Just let me move c
my magical groove. c
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