Remembrance

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) · 1890–1896

common measure · 8 lines · from Poems

Remembrance has a rear and front, --'T is something like a house;It has a garret alsoFor refuse and the mouse,

Besides, the deepest cellarThat ever mason hewed;Look to it, by its fathomsOurselves be not pursued.

Words in this poem

garret n.
A turret; a watchtower. [OE. garite, garette, watchtower, place of lookout, OF. garite, also meaning, a place of refuge, F. guérite a place of refuge, donjon, sentinel box, fr. OF. gari]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Remembrance 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, Remembrance, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/remembrance.html, id L03760.

Form and metre

Remembrance 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%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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. 1 -A-A front · houseA · also · mouseA
  2. 2 -A-A cellar · hewedA · fathoms · pursuedA
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.

LineSyl.Stress
Remembrance has a rear and front, --8˘/˘·····
'T is something like a house;7··/˘···
It has a garret also7···/˘/˘
For refuse and the mouse,6·˘/···
Besides, the deepest cellar7˘/·/˘/˘
That ever mason hewed;7·/˘/˘·˘
Look to it, by its fathoms7·····/˘
Ourselves be not pursued.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.

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