This is my letter to the world
This is my letter to the world,That never wrote to me, --The simple news that Nature told,With tender majesty.
Her message is committedTo hands I cannot see;For love of her, sweet countrymen,Judge tenderly of me!
Words in this poem
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
This is my letter to the world 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, This is my letter to the world, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/this-is-my-letter-to-the-world.html, id L18881.
Form and metre
This is my letter to the world is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 committed · seeA · countrymen · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This is my letter to the world, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That never wrote to me, -- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The simple news that Nature told, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With tender majesty. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| Her message is committed | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| To hands I cannot see; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For love of her, sweet countrymen, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Judge tenderly of me! | 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.