Power
You cannot put a fire out;A thing that can igniteCan go, itself, without a fanUpon the slowest night.
You cannot fold a floodAnd put it in a drawer, --Because the winds would find it out,And tell your cedar floor.
About this text
Power 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, Power, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/power.html, id L03765.
Form and metre
Power is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 out · igniteA · fan · nightA
- 2 -A-A flood · drawerA · out · floorA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You cannot put a fire out; | 7 | ·/˘··/· |
| A thing that can ignite | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Can go, itself, without a fan | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Upon the slowest night. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| You cannot fold a flood | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And put it in a drawer, -- | 6 | ······ |
| Because the winds would find it out, | 8 | ········ |
| And tell your cedar floor. | 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.