Time's Lesson
Mine enemy is growing old, --I have at last revenge.The palate of the hate departs;If any would avenge, --
Let him be quick, the viand flits,It is a faded meat.Anger as soon as fed is dead;'T is starving makes it fat.
Words in this poem
- viand n.
- An article of food; provisions; food; victuals; -- used chiefly in the plural. [F. viande meat, food, LL. vianda, vivanda, vivenda, properly, things to live on, fr. L. vivere to live; akin to vivus living. See Vivid, and cf. Victualis.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Time's Lesson 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, Time's Lesson, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/time-s-lesson.html, id L03658.
Form and metre
Time's Lesson is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables.
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.
- 1 -A-A old · revengeA · departs · avengeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mine enemy is growing old, -- | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| I have at last revenge. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The palate of the hate departs; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| If any would avenge, -- | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Let him be quick, the viand flits, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It is a faded meat. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Anger as soon as fed is dead; | 8 | /˘······ |
| 'T is starving makes it fat. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.