Choice
Of all the souls that stand createI have elected one.When sense from spirit files away,And subterfuge is done;
When that which is and that which wasApart, intrinsic, stand,And this brief tragedy of fleshIs shifted like a sand;
When figures show their royal frontAnd mists are carved away, --Behold the atom I preferredTo all the lists of clay!
Words in this poem
- subterfuge n.
- That to which one resorts for escape or concealment; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion. [F., from LL. subterfugium, fr. L. subterfugere to flee secretly, to escape; subter under + fugere to flee. See Fugitive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Choice 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, Choice, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/choice.html, id L03666.
Form and metre
Choice is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 create · oneA · away · doneA
- 2 -A-A was · standA · flesh · sandA
- 3 -A-A front · awayA · preferred · clayA
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. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Of all the souls that stand create | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I have elected one. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| When sense from spirit files away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And subterfuge is done; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When that which is and that which was | 8 | ········ |
| Apart, intrinsic, stand, | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| And this brief tragedy of flesh | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Is shifted like a sand; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When figures show their royal front | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And mists are carved away, -- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Behold the atom I preferred | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| To all the lists of clay! | 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.