Problems
Bring me the sunset in a cup,Reckon the morning's flagons up,And say how many dew;Tell me how far the morning leaps,Tell me what time the weaver sleepsWho spun the breadths of blue!
Write me how many notes there beIn the new robin's ecstasyAmong astonished boughs;How many trips the tortoise makes,How many cups the bee partakes, --The debauchee of dews!
Also, who laid the rainbow's piers,Also, who leads the docile spheresBy withes of supple blue?Whose fingers string the stalactite,Who counts the wampum of the night,To see that none is due?
Who built this little Alban houseAnd shut the windows down so closeMy spirit cannot see?Who 'll let me out some gala day,With implements to fly away,Passing pomposity?
Words in this poem
- debauchee n.
- One who is given to intemperance or bacchanalian excesses; a man habitually lewd; a libertine. [F. dé, n., properly p. p. of débaucher. See Debauch, v. t.]
- docile a.
- Teachable; easy to teach; docible. [L. docilis,fr. docere to teach; cf. Gr. discere to learn, Gr. docile. Cf. Doctor, Didactic, Disciple.]
- wampum n.
- Beads made of shells, used by the North American Indians as money, and also wrought into belts, etc., as an ornament. [North American Indian wampum, wompam, from the Mass. wómpi, Del. wape, white.]
- alban n.
- A white crystalline resinous substance extracted from gutta- percha by the action of alcohol or ether. [L. albus white.]
- gala n.
- Pomp, show, or festivity. Macaulay. Gala day, a day of mirth and festivity; a holiday. [F. gala show, pomp, fr. It. gala finery, gala; of German origin. See Gallant.]
- pomposity n.
- The quality or state of being pompous; pompousness. Thackeray.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Problems 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, Problems, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/problems.html, id L03705.
Form and metre
Problems is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABCCB cupA · upA · dewB · leapsC · sleepsC · blueB
- 3 AABCCB piersA · spheresA · blueB · stalactiteC · nightC · dueB
- 4 ---AA- house · close · see · dayA · awayA · pomposity
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bring me the sunset in a cup, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Reckon the morning's flagons up, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And say how many dew; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Tell me how far the morning leaps, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tell me what time the weaver sleeps | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who spun the breadths of blue! | 6 | ······ |
| Write me how many notes there be | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In the new robin's ecstasy | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Among astonished boughs; | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| How many trips the tortoise makes, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| How many cups the bee partakes, -- | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The debauchee of dews! | 6 | ······ |
| Also, who laid the rainbow's piers, | 8 | /˘···/·· |
| Also, who leads the docile spheres | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| By withes of supple blue? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Whose fingers string the stalactite, | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| Who counts the wampum of the night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To see that none is due? | 6 | ······ |
| Who built this little Alban house | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And shut the windows down so close | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My spirit cannot see? | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Who 'll let me out some gala day, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| With implements to fly away, | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Passing pomposity? | 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.