Death
Death is like the insectMenacing the tree,Competent to kill it,But decoyed may be.
Bait it with the balsam,Seek it with the knife,Baffle, if it cost youEverything in life.
Then, if it have burrowedOut of reach of skill,Ring the tree and leave it, --'T is the vermin's will.
Words in this poem
- baffle v. i.
- To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight. [Cf. Lowland Scotch bauchle to treat contemptuously, bauch tasteless, abashed, jaded, Icel. bagr uneasy, poor, or bagr, n., struggle, bægja to push, treat harshl]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Death 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, Death, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/death.html, id L03806.
Form and metre
Death is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 insect · treeA · it · beA
- 2 -A-A balsam · knifeA · you · lifeA
- 3 -A-A burrowed · skillA · it · willA
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Death is like the insect | 6 | ····/· |
| Menacing the tree, | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Competent to kill it, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| But decoyed may be. | 6 | ·˘/˘·· |
| Bait it with the balsam, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Seek it with the knife, | 5 | ····· |
| Baffle, if it cost you | 6 | /˘···· |
| Everything in life. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Then, if it have burrowed | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Out of reach of skill, | 5 | ····· |
| Ring the tree and leave it, -- | 6 | ······ |
| 'T is the vermin's will. | 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.