Analysis of If you were coming in the fall,
Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)
If you were coming in the fall,
I'd brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spum,
As housewives do a fly.
If I could see you in a year,
I'd wind the months in balls,
And put them each in separate drawers,
Until their time befalls.
If only centuries delayed,
I'd count them on my hand,
Subtracting till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen's land.
If certain, when this life was out,
That yours and mine should be,
I'd toss it yonder like a rind,
And taste eternity.
But now, all ignorant of the length
Of time's uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee,
That will not state its sting.
Scheme | XAXA XBXB XCXC XDXD XEDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11010001 110101 11010101 11101 11111001 110101 01110101 011101 11010001 111111 01011101 01111 11011111 110111 11110101 010100 111100101 110101 11110101 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 588 |
Words | 118 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 92 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 233 Views
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"If you were coming in the fall," Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11855/if-you-were-coming-in-the-fall%2C>.
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