Day's Parlor
The day came slow, till five o'clock,Then sprang before the hillsLike hindered rubies, or the lightA sudden musket spills.
The purple could not keep the east,The sunrise shook from fold,Like breadths of topaz, packed a night,The lady just unrolled.
The happy winds their timbrels took;The birds, in docile rows,Arranged themselves around their prince(The wind is prince of those).
The orchard sparkled like a Jew, --How mighty 't was, to stayA guest in this stupendous place,The parlor of the day!
Words in this poem
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- docile a.
- Teachable; easy to teach; docible. [L. docilis,fr. docere to teach; cf. Gr. discere to learn, Gr. docile. Cf. Doctor, Didactic, Disciple.]
- stupendous a.
- Astonishing; wonderful; amazing; especially, astonishing in magnitude or elevation; as, a stupendous pile. [L. stupendus astonishing, p. future pass. of stupere to be astonished at. Cf. Stupid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Day's Parlor 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, Day's Parlor, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/day-s-parlor.html, id L03675.
Form and metre
Day's Parlor is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 25% 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 o'clock · hillsA · light · spillsA
- 2 -A-A east · foldA · night · unrolledA
- 3 -A-A took · rowsA · prince · thoseA
- 4 -A-A jew · stayA · place · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The day came slow, till five o'clock, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Then sprang before the hills | 6 | ······ |
| Like hindered rubies, or the light | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A sudden musket spills. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The purple could not keep the east, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The sunrise shook from fold, | 6 | ·/···· |
| Like breadths of topaz, packed a night, | 8 | ···/···· |
| The lady just unrolled. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The happy winds their timbrels took; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The birds, in docile rows, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Arranged themselves around their prince | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| (The wind is prince of those). | 6 | ······ |
| The orchard sparkled like a Jew, -- | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| How mighty 't was, to stay | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| A guest in this stupendous place, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The parlor of the day! | 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.