Experience
I stepped from plank to plankSo slow and cautiously;The stars about my head I felt,About my feet the sea.
I knew not but the nextWould be my final inch, --This gave me that precarious gaitSome call experience.
Words in this poem
- precarious a.
- Depending on the will or pleasure of another; held by courtesy; liable to be changed or lost at the pleasure of another; as, precarious privileges. [L. precarius obtained by begging or prayer, depending on request or on the will of another, fr. precari to pray, beg. See Pray.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Experience 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, Experience, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/experience.html, id L03766.
Form and metre
Experience is 8 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 2 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 short 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.
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I stepped from plank to plank | 6 | ······ |
| So slow and cautiously; | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| The stars about my head I felt, | 8 | ········ |
| About my feet the sea. | 6 | ······ |
| I knew not but the next | 6 | ······ |
| Would be my final inch, -- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| This gave me that precarious gait | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Some call experience. | 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.