Q: Can you tell me what the base meter is of the poem "The Road Not Taken" would be?
A:
I think you'd have to call the base meter of "The Road Not Taken" iambic tetrameter. The lines, however, are quite irregular, which is typical of Frost, who tried to reproduce the natural cadences of New England speech in his poetry. You're right in noting that there are a number of anapaestic feet substituted for iambs, which make the lines flow more naturally and gracefully and avoid the jog-trot nursery rhyme rhythm that a straight iambic pattern would tend to create.
