Returning
I years had been from home,And now, before the door,I dared not open, lest a faceI never saw before
Stare vacant into mineAnd ask my business there.My business, -- just a life I left,Was such still dwelling there?
I fumbled at my nerve,I scanned the windows near;The silence like an ocean rolled,And broke against my ear.
I laughed a wooden laughThat I could fear a door,Who danger and the dead had faced,But never quaked before.
I fitted to the latchMy hand, with trembling care,Lest back the awful door should spring,And leave me standing there.
I moved my fingers offAs cautiously as glass,And held my ears, and like a thiefFled gasping from the house.
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- latch v. t.
- To smear; to anoint. [Cf. F. lécher to lick (of German origin). Cf. Lick.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Returning 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, Returning, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/returning.html, id L03662.
Form and metre
Returning is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short 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 home · doorA · face · beforeA
- 2 -A-A mine · thereA · left · thereA
- 3 -A-A nerve · nearA · rolled · earA
- 4 -A-A laugh · doorA · faced · beforeA
- 5 -A-A latch · careA · spring · thereA
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I years had been from home, | 6 | ······ |
| And now, before the door, | 6 | ······ |
| I dared not open, lest a face | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I never saw before | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Stare vacant into mine | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And ask my business there. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My business, -- just a life I left, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Was such still dwelling there? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I fumbled at my nerve, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I scanned the windows near; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The silence like an ocean rolled, | 7 | ·/˘··/· |
| And broke against my ear. | 6 | ······ |
| I laughed a wooden laugh | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That I could fear a door, | 6 | ······ |
| Who danger and the dead had faced, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But never quaked before. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I fitted to the latch | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| My hand, with trembling care, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Lest back the awful door should spring, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And leave me standing there. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I moved my fingers off | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As cautiously as glass, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| And held my ears, and like a thief | 8 | ········ |
| Fled gasping from the house. | 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.