The Runaway
‘The Runaway’ is a poem by the American writer Robert Frost, first collected in his volume New Hampshire, published by Henry Holt in 1923.[1] The speaker stops by a mountain pasture as the first snow of the year begins to fall and watches a young Morgan colt snort, bolt, and then return to the wall with whited eyes, closing with the remark that whoever leaves the colt out so late ought to bring him in.[1] The text reproduced below is in the public domain in the United States.[3]
Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall,
We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, ‘Whose colt?’
A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall,
The other curled at his breast. He dipped his head
And snorted at us. And then he had to bolt.
We heard the miniature thunder where he fled,
And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and grey,
Like a shadow against the curtain of falling flakes.
‘I think the little fellow’s afraid of the snow.
He isn’t winter-broken. It isn’t play
With the little fellow at all. He’s running away.
I doubt if even his mother could tell him, “Sakes,
It’s only weather.” He’d think she didn’t know!
Where is his mother? He can’t be out alone.’
And now he comes again with a clatter of stone,
And mounts the wall again with whited eyes
And all his tail that isn’t hair up straight.
He shudders his coat as if to throw off flies.
‘Whoever it is that leaves him out so late,
When other creatures have gone to stall and bin,
Ought to be told to come and take him in.’Robert Frost, ‘The Runaway,’ 1923.
- Poetry Foundation, ‘The Runaway’ by Robert Frost — the reference text used to reproduce the poem exactly, line by line.
- Robert Frost Society, ‘The Runaway’ — a second reputable text corroborating the wording.
- Wikipedia, New Hampshire (poetry collection) — confirms first publication in the 1923 collection, establishing US public-domain status.
The Horse Fair
The Horse Fair is an oil-on-canvas painting made by the French artist Rosa Bonheur between 1852 and 1855.[1] It measures 244.5 by 506.7 cm and is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which received it as the gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1887 and designates the image open access.[1] The painting depicts the horse market once held on the Boulevard de l’Hôpital in Paris, with the dome of the Salpêtrière at the left and grooms leading and restraining draft and saddle horses across the foreground.[1] To study the animals and handlers at the market, Bonheur obtained a police permit to wear men’s clothing.[2]
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection record for The Horse Fair, object 87.25 — title, dates, medium, dimensions, credit line, and Open Access status.
- Wikipedia, The Horse Fair — corroborates the dating, the Paris horse market subject, and the Vanderbilt gift.
- Wikimedia Commons, File:The Horse Fair MET DT44.jpg — the open-access image reproduced here.
Night-Shining White
Night-Shining White is a handscroll in ink on paper made by the Chinese painter Han Gan around 750, during the Tang dynasty.[1] The painted image measures about 30.8 by 34 cm, while the full scroll with its later mountings extends more than eleven metres.[1] It portrays a single tethered horse named Zhaoyebai, or ‘Night-Shining White,’ recorded as a favourite charger of the Tang emperor Xuanzong, shown with raised head and open mouth straining against a post.[1] Over more than a thousand years the paper gathered many collectors’ seals and inscriptions, among them one attributed to the tenth-century ruler Li Yu.[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired it in 1977 and marks the image open access.[1]
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection record for Night-Shining White, object 1977.78 — artist, date, medium, dimensions, provenance seals, credit line, and Open Access status.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, work-of-art page for 1977.78 — corroborates the imperial horse Zhaoyebai and the later collectors’ inscriptions.
- Wikimedia Commons, File:Han Gan Night-Shining White.jpg — the open-access image reproduced here.
