Storm
It sounded as if the streets were running,And then the streets stood still.Eclipse was all we could see at the window,And awe was all we could feel.
By and by the boldest stole out of his covert,To see if time was there.Nature was in her beryl apron,Mixing fresher air.
Words in this poem
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Storm 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, Storm, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/storm.html, id L03700.
Form and metre
Storm is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 covert · thereA · apron · airA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| It sounded as if the streets were running, | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| And then the streets stood still. | 6 | ······ |
| Eclipse was all we could see at the window, | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
| And awe was all we could feel. | 7 | ······· |
| By and by the boldest stole out of his covert, | 12 | ····/˘····/˘ |
| To see if time was there. | 6 | ······ |
| Nature was in her beryl apron, | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| Mixing fresher air. | 5 | /˘/˘· |
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.