Simplicity
How happy is the little stoneThat rambles in the road alone,And doesn't care about careers,And exigencies never fears;Whose coat of elemental brownA passing universe put on;And independent as the sun,Associates or glows alone,Fulfilling absolute decreeIn casual simplicity.
About this text
Simplicity 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, Simplicity, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/simplicity.html, id L03699.
Form and metre
Simplicity is 10 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 AABB---A-- stoneA · aloneA · careersB · fearsB · brown · on · sun · aloneA · decree · simplicity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How happy is the little stone | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That rambles in the road alone, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And doesn't care about careers, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And exigencies never fears; | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| Whose coat of elemental brown | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| A passing universe put on; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And independent as the sun, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Associates or glows alone, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Fulfilling absolute decree | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| In casual simplicity. | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
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.