The Robin
The robin is the oneThat interrupts the mornWith hurried, few, express reportsWhen March is scarcely on.
The robin is the oneThat overflows the noonWith her cherubic quantity,An April but begun.
The robin is the oneThat speechless from her nestSubmits that home and certaintyAnd sanctity are best.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- cherubic a.
- Of or pertaining to cherubs; angelic.
- speechless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the faculty of speech.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Robin 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 Robin, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/the-robin.html, id L03677.
Form and metre
The Robin is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 67% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short 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 oneA · noon · quantity · begunA
- 3 -A-A one · nestA · certainty · bestA
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The robin is the one | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That interrupts the morn | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| With hurried, few, express reports | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| When March is scarcely on. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The robin is the one | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That overflows the noon | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With her cherubic quantity, | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| An April but begun. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The robin is the one | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That speechless from her nest | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Submits that home and certainty | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| And sanctity are best. | 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.