Sight
Before I got my eye put out,I liked as well to seeAs other creatures that have eyes,And know no other way.
But were it told to me, to-day,That I might have the skyFor mine, I tell you that my heartWould split, for size of me.
The meadows mine, the mountains mine, --All forests, stintless stars,As much of noon as I could takeBetween my finite eyes.
The motions of the dipping birds,The lightning's jointed road,For mine to look at when I liked, --The news would strike me dead!
So safer, guess, with just my soulUpon the window-paneWhere other creatures put their eyes,Incautious of the sun.
Words in this poem
- stintless a.
- Without stint or restraint.
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sight 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, Sight, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/sight.html, id L03655.
Form and metre
Sight is 20 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 30% 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 day · skyA · heart · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Before I got my eye put out, | 8 | ········ |
| I liked as well to see | 6 | ······ |
| As other creatures that have eyes, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And know no other way. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But were it told to me, to-day, | 8 | ········ |
| That I might have the sky | 6 | ······ |
| For mine, I tell you that my heart | 8 | ········ |
| Would split, for size of me. | 6 | ······ |
| The meadows mine, the mountains mine, -- | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| All forests, stintless stars, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| As much of noon as I could take | 8 | ········ |
| Between my finite eyes. | 6 | ···/·· |
| The motions of the dipping birds, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The lightning's jointed road, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| For mine to look at when I liked, -- | 8 | ········ |
| The news would strike me dead! | 6 | ······ |
| So safer, guess, with just my soul | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Upon the window-pane | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Where other creatures put their eyes, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Incautious of the sun. | 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.