The farthest thunder that I heard
The farthest thunder that I heardWas nearer than the sky,And rumbles still, though torrid noonsHave lain their missiles by.The lightning that preceded itStruck no one but myself,But I would not exchange the boltFor all the rest of life.Indebtedness to oxygenThe chemist may repay,But not the obligationTo electricity.It founds the homes and decks the days,And every clamor brightIs but the gleam concomitantOf that waylaying light.The thought is quiet as a flake, --A crash without a sound;How life's reverberationIts explanation found!
Words in this poem
- concomitant a.
- Accompanying; conjoined; attending. [F., fr. L. con- + comitari to accompany, comes companion. See Count a nobleman.]
- flake n.
- A paling; a hurdle. [prov. Eng.] [Cf. Icel. flaki, fleki, Dan. flage, D. vlaak.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The farthest thunder that I heard 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, The farthest thunder that I heard, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/the-farthest-thunder-that-i-heard.html, id L19013.
Form and metre
The farthest thunder that I heard is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 -A-A------B--C-C-DBD heard · skyA · noons · byA · it · myself · bolt · life · oxygen · repay · obligationB · electricity · days · brightC · concomitant · lightC · flake · soundD · reverberationB · foundD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The farthest thunder that I heard | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Was nearer than the sky, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And rumbles still, though torrid noons | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Have lain their missiles by. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The lightning that preceded it | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Struck no one but myself, | 6 | ·····/ |
| But I would not exchange the bolt | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For all the rest of life. | 6 | ······ |
| Indebtedness to oxygen | 7 | ˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| The chemist may repay, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| But not the obligation | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| To electricity. | 6 | ·˘·/˘˘ |
| It founds the homes and decks the days, | 8 | ········ |
| And every clamor bright | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Is but the gleam concomitant | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Of that waylaying light. | 6 | ··/·˘· |
| The thought is quiet as a flake, -- | 7 | ···/··· |
| A crash without a sound; | 6 | ······ |
| How life's reverberation | 7 | ··˘·˘/˘ |
| Its explanation found! | 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.