I meant to find her when I came
I meant to find her when I came;Death had the same design;But the success was his, it seems,And the discomfit mine.
I meant to tell her how I longedFor just this single time;But Death had told her so the first,And she had hearkened him.
To wander now is my abode;To rest, -- to rest would beA privilege of hurricaneTo memory and me.
Words in this poem
- discomfit a.
- Discomfited; overthrown.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I meant to find her when I came 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 meant to find her when I came, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/i-meant-to-find-her-when-i-came.html, id L19061.
Form and metre
I meant to find her when I came is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 came · designA · seems · mineA
- 3 -A-A abode · beA · hurricane · meA
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 meant to find her when I came; | 8 | ········ |
| Death had the same design; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But the success was his, it seems, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And the discomfit mine. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| I meant to tell her how I longed | 8 | ········ |
| For just this single time; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But Death had told her so the first, | 8 | ········ |
| And she had hearkened him. | 6 | ······ |
| To wander now is my abode; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To rest, -- to rest would be | 6 | ······ |
| A privilege of hurricane | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| To memory and me. | 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.