The Moon
The moon was but a chin of goldA night or two ago,And now she turns her perfect faceUpon the world below.
Her forehead is of amplest blond;Her cheek like beryl stone;Her eye unto the summer dewThe likest I have known.
Her lips of amber never part;But what must be the smileUpon her friend she could bestowWere such her silver will!
And what a privilege to beBut the remotest star!For certainly her way might passBeside your twinkling door.
Her bonnet is the firmament,The universe her shoe,The stars the trinkets at her belt,Her dimities of blue.
Words in this poem
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Moon 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 Moon, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/the-moon.html, id L03795.
Form and metre
The Moon is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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.
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 gold · agoA · face · belowA
- 2 -A-A blond · stoneA · dew · knownA
- 5 -A-A firmament · shoeA · belt · blueA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The moon was but a chin of gold | 8 | ········ |
| A night or two ago, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And now she turns her perfect face | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Upon the world below. | 6 | ······ |
| Her forehead is of amplest blond; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Her cheek like beryl stone; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Her eye unto the summer dew | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The likest I have known. | 6 | ······ |
| Her lips of amber never part; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| But what must be the smile | 6 | ······ |
| Upon her friend she could bestow | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Were such her silver will! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And what a privilege to be | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| But the remotest star! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| For certainly her way might pass | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Beside your twinkling door. | 7 | ˘/·/˘˘· |
| Her bonnet is the firmament, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The universe her shoe, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The stars the trinkets at her belt, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her dimities of blue. | 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.