The Mystery of Pain
Pain has an element of blank;It cannot recollectWhen it began, or if there wereA day when it was not.
It has no future but itself,Its infinite realms containIts past, enlightened to perceiveNew periods of pain.
Words in this poem
- recollect v. t.
- To recover or recall the knowledge of; to bring back to the mind or memory; to remember. [Pref. re- + collect: cf. L. recolligere, recollectum, to collect. Cf. Recollet.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Mystery of Pain 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 Mystery of Pain, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/the-mystery-of-pain.html, id L03581.
Form and metre
The Mystery of Pain is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 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.
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 itself · containA · perceive · painA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pain has an element of blank; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| It cannot recollect | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| When it began, or if there were | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A day when it was not. | 6 | ······ |
| It has no future but itself, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Its infinite realms contain | 7 | ·/˘˘·˘/ |
| Its past, enlightened to perceive | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| New periods of pain. | 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.