Sleeping
A long, long sleep, a famous sleepThat makes no show for dawnBy stretch of limb or stir of lid, --An independent one.
Was ever idleness like this?Within a hut of stoneTo bask the centuries awayNor once look up for noon?
Words in this poem
- bask v. i.
- To lie in warmth; to be exposed to genial heat. [OScand. ba to bathe one's self, or perh. bakask to bake one's self, sk being reflexive. See Bath, n., Bake, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sleeping 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, Sleeping, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/sleeping.html, id L03821.
Form and metre
Sleeping is 8 lines in 2 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 91%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 50% 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A long, long sleep, a famous sleep | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That makes no show for dawn | 6 | ······ |
| By stretch of limb or stir of lid, -- | 8 | ········ |
| An independent one. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Was ever idleness like this? | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Within a hut of stone | 6 | ······ |
| To bask the centuries away | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Nor once look up for noon? | 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.