The Wind's Visit
The wind tapped like a tired man,And like a host, "Come in,"I boldly answered; entered thenMy residence within
A rapid, footless guest,To offer whom a chairWere as impossible as handA sofa to the air.
No bone had he to bind him,His speech was like the pushOf numerous humming-birds at onceFrom a superior bush.
His countenance a billow,His fingers, if he pass,Let go a music, as of tunesBlown tremulous in glass.
He visited, still flitting;Then, like a timid man,Again he tapped -- 't was flurriedly --And I became alone.
Words in this poem
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- billow n.
- A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. bölge, Sw. bölja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
- flitting n.
- A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wind's Visit 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 Wind's Visit, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/the-wind-s-visit.html, id L03697.
Form and metre
The Wind's Visit is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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.
- 1 AAAA manA · inA · thenA · withinA
- 2 -A-A guest · chairA · hand · airA
- 3 -A-A him · pushA · once · bushA
- 4 -A-A billow · passA · tunes · glassA
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 wind tapped like a tired man, | 7 | ·····/· |
| And like a host, "Come in," | 6 | ······ |
| I boldly answered; entered then | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| My residence within | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| A rapid, footless guest, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| To offer whom a chair | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Were as impossible as hand | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| A sofa to the air. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| No bone had he to bind him, | 7 | ······· |
| His speech was like the push | 6 | ······ |
| Of numerous humming-birds at once | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| From a superior bush. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| His countenance a billow, | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| His fingers, if he pass, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Let go a music, as of tunes | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Blown tremulous in glass. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| He visited, still flitting; | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| Then, like a timid man, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Again he tapped -- 't was flurriedly -- | 9 | ˘/······· |
| And I became alone. | 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.