Prayer
Prayer is the little implementThrough which men reachWhere presence is denied them.They fling their speech
By means of it in God's ear;If then He hear,This sums the apparatusComprised in prayer.
About this text
Prayer 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, Prayer, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/prayer.html, id L03663.
Form and metre
Prayer is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 implement · reachA · them · speechA
- 2 AA-A earA · hearA · apparatus · prayerA
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 iambic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Prayer is the little implement | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Through which men reach | 4 | ···· |
| Where presence is denied them. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| They fling their speech | 4 | ···· |
| By means of it in God's ear; | 7 | ······· |
| If then He hear, | 4 | ···· |
| This sums the apparatus | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Comprised in prayer. | 4 | ˘/·· |
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.