Retrospect
'T was just this time last year I died.I know I heard the corn,When I was carried by the farms, --It had the tassels on.
I thought how yellow it would lookWhen Richard went to mill;And then I wanted to get out,But something held my will.
I thought just how red apples wedgedThe stubble's joints between;And carts went stooping round the fieldsTo take the pumpkins in.
I wondered which would miss me least,And when Thanksgiving came,If father'd multiply the platesTo make an even sum.
And if my stocking hung too high,Would it blur the Christmas glee,That not a Santa Claus could reachThe altitude of me?
But this sort grieved myself, and soI thought how it would beWhen just this time, some perfect year,Themselves should come to me.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- wondered a.
- Having performed wonders; able to perform wonderful things.
- thanksgiving n.
- The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Retrospect 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, Retrospect, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/retrospect.html, id L03822.
Form and metre
Retrospect is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 29% 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.
- 2 -A-A look · millA · out · willA
- 3 -A-A wedged · betweenA · fields · inA
- 5 AA-A highA · gleeA · reach · meA
- 6 -A-A so · beA · year · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'T was just this time last year I died. | 9 | ········· |
| I know I heard the corn, | 6 | ······ |
| When I was carried by the farms, -- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| It had the tassels on. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I thought how yellow it would look | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When Richard went to mill; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And then I wanted to get out, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But something held my will. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I thought just how red apples wedged | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The stubble's joints between; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And carts went stooping round the fields | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To take the pumpkins in. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I wondered which would miss me least, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And when Thanksgiving came, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If father'd multiply the plates | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To make an even sum. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And if my stocking hung too high, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Would it blur the Christmas glee, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That not a Santa Claus could reach | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The altitude of me? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But this sort grieved myself, and so | 8 | ·····/·· |
| I thought how it would be | 6 | ······ |
| When just this time, some perfect year, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Themselves should come to me. | 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.