The Rat
The rat is the concisest tenant.He pays no rent, --Repudiates the obligation,On schemes intent.
Balking our witTo sound or circumvent,Hate cannot harmA foe so reticent.
Neither decreeProhibits him,Lawful asEquilibrium.
Words in this poem
- circumvent v. t.
- To gain advantage over by arts, stratagem, or deception; to decieve; to delude; to get around. [L. circumventis, p. p. of circumvenire, to come around, encompass, decieve; circum + venire to come, akin to E. come.]
- reticent a.
- Inclined to keep silent; reserved; uncommunicative. [L. reticens, p. pr. of reticere to keep silence; re- + tacere to be silent. See Tacit.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rat 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 Rat, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/the-rat.html, id L03701.
Form and metre
The Rat is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 AA-A tenantA · rentA · obligation · intentA
- 2 -A-A wit · circumventA · harm · reticentA
- 3 -A-A decree · himA · as · equilibriumA
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The rat is the concisest tenant. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| He pays no rent, -- | 4 | ···· |
| Repudiates the obligation, | 9 | ˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| On schemes intent. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Balking our wit | 4 | /˘/· |
| To sound or circumvent, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Hate cannot harm | 4 | ·/˘· |
| A foe so reticent. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Neither decree | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| Prohibits him, | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| Lawful as | 3 | /˘· |
| Equilibrium. | 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.