Emancipation
No rack can torture me,My soul's at libertyBehind this mortal boneThere knits a bolder one
You cannot prick with saw,Nor rend with scymitar.Two bodies therefore be;Bind one, and one will flee.
The eagle of his nestNo easier divestAnd gain the sky,Than mayest thou,
Except thyself may beThine enemy;Captivity is consciousness,So's liberty.
Words in this poem
- knits n.
- Small particles of ore. Raymond. [Prob. same word as nit a louse's egg.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Emancipation 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, Emancipation, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/emancipation.html, id L03634.
Form and metre
Emancipation is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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.
- 2 --AA saw · scymitar · beA · fleeA
- 3 AA-- nestA · divestA · sky · thou
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 iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| No rack can torture me, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My soul's at liberty | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Behind this mortal bone | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There knits a bolder one | 6 | ···/˘· |
| You cannot prick with saw, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nor rend with scymitar. | 6 | ······ |
| Two bodies therefore be; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Bind one, and one will flee. | 6 | ······ |
| The eagle of his nest | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| No easier divest | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| And gain the sky, | 4 | ···· |
| Than mayest thou, | 3 | ··· |
| Except thyself may be | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Thine enemy; | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Captivity is consciousness, | 7 | ˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| So's liberty. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
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.