Analysis of I measure every Grief I meet (561)
Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)
I measure every Grief I meet
With narrow, probing, Eyes--
I wonder if It weighs like Mine--
Or has an Easier size.
I wonder if They bore it long--
Or did it just begin--
I could not tell the Date of Mine--
It feels so old a pain--
I wonder if it hurts to live--
And if They have to try--
And whether--could They choose between--
It would not be--to die--
I note that Some--gone patient long--
At length, renew their smile--
An imitation of a Light
That has so little Oil--
I wonder if when Years have piled--
Some Thousands--on the Harm--
That hurt them early--such a lapse
Could give them any Balm--
Or would they go on aching still
Through Centuries of Nerve--
Enlightened to a larger Pain--
In Contrast with the Love--
The Grieved--are many--I am told--
There is the various Cause--
Death--is but one--and comes but once--
And only nails the eyes--
There's Grief of Want--and grief of Cold--
A sort they call "Despair"--
There's Banishment from native Eyes--
In Sight of Native Air--
And though I may not guess the kind--
Correctly--yet to me
A piercing Comfort it affords
In passing Calvary--
To note the fashions--of the Cross--
And how they're mostly worn--
Still fascinated to presume
That Some--are like My Own--
Scheme | XABA CXBD XEXE CXXX XXXX XXDX FXXA FGAG XHXH XXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (40%) Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 110100111 110101 11011111 1111001 11011111 111101 11110111 111101 11011111 011111 01011101 111111 11111101 110111 1010101 111101 11011111 110101 11110101 111101 11111101 110011 01010101 010101 01110111 1101001 11110111 010101 11110111 011101 11001101 011101 01111101 010111 01010101 010100 11010101 011101 1100101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,206 |
Words | 219 |
Sentences | 2 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 91 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 389 Views
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"I measure every Grief I meet (561)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11785/i-measure-every-grief-i-meet-%28561%29>.
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