Dying
The sun kept setting, setting still;No hue of afternoonUpon the village I perceived, --From house to house 't was noon.
The dusk kept dropping, dropping still;No dew upon the grass,But only on my forehead stopped,And wandered in my face.
My feet kept drowsing, drowsing still,My fingers were awake;Yet why so little sound myselfUnto my seeming make?
How well I knew the light before!I could not see it now.'T is dying, I am doing; butI'm not afraid to know.
Words in this poem
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dying 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, Dying, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/dying.html, id L03630.
Form and metre
Dying is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 19% 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 still · afternoonA · perceived · noonA
- 3 -A-A still · awakeA · myself · makeA
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 sun kept setting, setting still; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| No hue of afternoon | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Upon the village I perceived, -- | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| From house to house 't was noon. | 7 | ······· |
| The dusk kept dropping, dropping still; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| No dew upon the grass, | 6 | ······ |
| But only on my forehead stopped, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And wandered in my face. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| My feet kept drowsing, drowsing still, | 8 | ········ |
| My fingers were awake; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Yet why so little sound myself | 8 | ···/˘··/ |
| Unto my seeming make? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| How well I knew the light before! | 8 | ········ |
| I could not see it now. | 6 | ······ |
| 'T is dying, I am doing; but | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| I'm not afraid to 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.