Called Back
Just lost when I was saved!Just felt the world go by!Just girt me for the onset with eternity,When breath blew back,And on the other sideI heard recede the disappointed tide!
Therefore, as one returned, I feel,Odd secrets of the line to tell!Some sailor, skirting foreign shores,Some pale reporter from the awful doorsBefore the seal!
Next time, to stay!Next time, the things to seeBy ear unheard,Unscrutinized by eye.
Next time, to tarry,While the ages steal, --Slow tramp the centuries,And the cycles wheel.
Words in this poem
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- disappointed a.
- Defeated of expectation or hope; balked; as, a disappointed person or hope.
- skirting n.
- A skirting board.
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Called Back 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, Called Back, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/called-back.html, id L03665.
Form and metre
Called Back is 19 lines in 4 stanzas. 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% 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 ----AA saved · by · eternity · back · sideA · tideA
- 2 A-BBA feelA · tell · shoresB · doorsB · sealA
- 3 -A-A stay · seeA · unheard · eyeA
- 4 -A-A tarry · stealA · centuries · wheelA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Just lost when I was saved! | 6 | ······ |
| Just felt the world go by! | 6 | ······ |
| Just girt me for the onset with eternity, | 12 | ·····/··˘/˘˘ |
| When breath blew back, | 4 | ···· |
| And on the other side | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I heard recede the disappointed tide! | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Therefore, as one returned, I feel, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Odd secrets of the line to tell! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Some sailor, skirting foreign shores, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Some pale reporter from the awful doors | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Before the seal! | 4 | ···· |
| Next time, to stay! | 4 | ···· |
| Next time, the things to see | 6 | ······ |
| By ear unheard, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Unscrutinized by eye. | 6 | ······ |
| Next time, to tarry, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| While the ages steal, -- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Slow tramp the centuries, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| And the cycles wheel. | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.