So bashful when I spied her
So bashful when I spied her,So pretty, so ashamed!So hidden in her leaflets,Lest anybody find;
So breathless till I passed her,So helpless when I turnedAnd bore her, struggling, blushing,Her simple haunts beyond!
For whom I robbed the dingle,For whom betrayed the dell,Many will doubtless ask me,But I shall never tell!
Words in this poem
- bashful a.
- Abashed; daunted; dismayed. [See Bash.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- dingle n.
- A narrow dale; a small dell; a small, secluded, and embowered valley. [Of uncertain origin: cf. AS. ding prison; or perh. akin to dimble.]
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
So bashful when I spied her 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, So bashful when I spied her, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/so-bashful-when-i-spied-her.html, id L18906.
Form and metre
So bashful when I spied her is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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.
- 3 AA-A dingleA · dellA · me · tellA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| So bashful when I spied her, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| So pretty, so ashamed! | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| So hidden in her leaflets, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Lest anybody find; | 6 | ·/˘˘˘· |
| So breathless till I passed her, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| So helpless when I turned | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And bore her, struggling, blushing, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Her simple haunts beyond! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For whom I robbed the dingle, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| For whom betrayed the dell, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Many will doubtless ask me, | 6 | /·/˘·· |
| But I shall never tell! | 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.