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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The shape of Dickinson’s poem is tiny and compact. Its small form is due in part to its lyric and riddle-like elements. Lyric poems tend to be short, and due to the lack of words—there are only 16 total words—the poem can be somewhat puzzling. The form limits Dickinson, so her speaker can’t expand on the meaning of faith, gentlemen, microscopes, or what qualifies as an emergency.
The clipped form allows for multiple, intricate readings; yet the poem doesn’t sound difficult because Dickinson uses a mellifluous meter. Lines 1 and 3 rhyme, so each line contains seven syllables; and Lines 2 and 4 rhyme, so each line contains six syllables. This type of meter links to syllabics, which is when the poet uses a specific number of syllables in a line but doesn’t worry about the unstressed/stressed pattern made by the syllables.
In a sense, the meter requires a microscope—the reader has to count the number of syllables in each line to notice the pattern. Additionally, the miniature form requires faith since the reader has to trust Dickinson’s speaker and their interpretation to figure out the poem’s deeper meaning or if there is one.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson