I wish I knew that woman's name
I wish I knew that woman's name,So, when she comes this way,To hold my life, and hold my ears,For fear I hear her say
She's 'sorry I am dead,' again,Just when the grave and IHave sobbed ourselves almost to sleep, --Our only lullaby.
Words in this poem
- lullaby n.
- A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets. [From Lull, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I wish I knew that woman's name 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 wish I knew that woman's name, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/i-wish-i-knew-that-woman-s-name.html, id L19059.
Form and metre
I wish I knew that woman's name is 8 lines in 2 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 name · wayA · ears · sayA
- 2 -A-A again · iA · sleep · lullabyA
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 wish I knew that woman's name, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So, when she comes this way, | 6 | ······ |
| To hold my life, and hold my ears, | 8 | ········ |
| For fear I hear her say | 6 | ······ |
| She's 'sorry I am dead,' again, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Just when the grave and I | 6 | ······ |
| Have sobbed ourselves almost to sleep, -- | 9 | ··˘˘//··· |
| Our only lullaby. | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
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.