I have not told my garden yet
I have not told my garden yet,Lest that should conquer me;I have not quite the strength nowTo break it to the bee.
I will not name it in the street,For shops would stare, that I,So shy, so very ignorant,Should have the face to die.
The hillsides must not know it,Where I have rambled so,Nor tell the loving forestsThe day that I shall go,
Nor lisp it at the table,Nor heedless by the wayHint that within the riddleOne will walk to-day!
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- lisp v. i.
- To pronounce the sibilant letter s imperfectly; to give s and z the sound of th; -- a defect common among children. [OE. lispen, lipsen, AS. wlisp stammering, lisping; akin to D. & OHG. lispen to lisp, G. lispeln, Sw. läspa, Dan. lespe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I have not told my garden yet 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, I have not told my garden yet, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/i-have-not-told-my-garden-yet.html, id L18988.
Form and metre
I have not told my garden yet is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 yet · meA · now · beeA
- 2 -A-A street · iA · ignorant · dieA
- 3 -A-A it · soA · forests · goA
- 4 -A-A table · wayA · riddle · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| I have not told my garden yet, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lest that should conquer me; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I have not quite the strength now | 7 | ······· |
| To break it to the bee. | 6 | ······ |
| I will not name it in the street, | 8 | ········ |
| For shops would stare, that I, | 6 | ······ |
| So shy, so very ignorant, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Should have the face to die. | 6 | ······ |
| The hillsides must not know it, | 7 | ·/····· |
| Where I have rambled so, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Nor tell the loving forests | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The day that I shall go, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor lisp it at the table, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Nor heedless by the way | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Hint that within the riddle | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| One will walk to-day! | 5 | ····· |
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.