Aurora
Of bronze and blazeThe north, to-night!So adequate its forms,So preconcerted with itself,So distant to alarms, --An unconcern so sovereignTo universe, or me,It paints my simple spiritWith tints of majesty,Till I take vaster attitudes,And strut upon my stem,Disdaining men and oxygen,For arrogance of them.
My splendors are menagerie;But their competeless showWill entertain the centuriesWhen I am, long ago,An island in dishonored grass,Whom none but daisies know.
Words in this poem
- preconcerted a.
- Previously arranged; agreed upon beforehand.
- unconcern n.
- Want of concern; absence of anxiety; freedom from solicitude; indifference.
- menagerie n.
- A piace where animals are kept and trained. [F. ménagerie, fr. ménager to keep house, ménage household. See Menial, Mansion.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Aurora is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete, Project Gutenberg ebook #12242; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emily Dickinson, Aurora, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/aurora.html, id L03801.
Form and metre
Aurora is 19 lines in 2 stanzas. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ----------A-A blaze · night · forms · itself · alarms · sovereign · me · spirit · majesty · attitudes · stemA · oxygen · themA
- 2 -A-A-A menagerie · showA · centuries · agoA · grass · knowA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Of bronze and blaze | 4 | ···· |
| The north, to-night! | 4 | ···· |
| So adequate its forms, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| So preconcerted with itself, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| So distant to alarms, -- | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| An unconcern so sovereign | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| To universe, or me, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| It paints my simple spirit | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| With tints of majesty, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Till I take vaster attitudes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And strut upon my stem, | 6 | ······ |
| Disdaining men and oxygen, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| For arrogance of them. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| My splendors are menagerie; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| But their competeless show | 7 | ······· |
| Will entertain the centuries | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| When I am, long ago, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| An island in dishonored grass, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Whom none but daisies know. | 6 | ···/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.