“The Fountain”- Explication In Sara Teasdale’s poem, “The Fountain,” shows how one can never truly be free because of the perpetual expectations and boundaries surrounding them. The speaker addresses an inanimate object, the fountain, by questioning its desire for freedom which the fountain then responds, presenting the speaker with a deep realization. At the start of the ballad, the speaker begins apostrophizing the fountain and inquiring on how it conforms to “singing..alone.” These devices are used to clearly reflect the speaker’s own worries and questions. In the following lines, 3 &4, the personified fountain replies stating that it is “enough to rise and fall” in its stone entrapment. The rhyme of “alone” and “stone”, both having quite negative connotations, help highlight the loneliness and create an obvious relationship between the speaker and the conforming object. The next strophe changes rhyme scheme from abcb to three sets of couplets signaling a shift. The first set, shows the speakers reluctance to accept the fountain’s answer by questioning its “content” since it is so close to the “freedom” and “rush” of the large and open ocean. However the fountain insightfully replies that it hears the sea’s “laboring sound” “as the moon runs round,” and then compares the ocean and fountain to shadows and trees to show that “nothing escapes, nothing is free.” The fountain, who represents the speakers own thoughts, presents the idea that even if it was to be part of