To lose thee, sweeter than to gain
To lose thee, sweeter than to gainAll other hearts I knew.'T is true the drought is destitute,But then I had the dew!
The Caspian has its realms of sand,Its other realm of sea;Without the sterile perquisiteNo Caspian could be.
Words in this poem
- perquisite n.
- Something gained from a place or employment over and above the ordinary salary or fixed wages for services rendered; especially, a fee allowed by law to an officer for a specific service. [L. perquisitum, fr. perquisitus, p.p. of perquirere to ask for diligently; per + quaerere to seek. See Per-, and Quest.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To lose thee, sweeter than to gain 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, To lose thee, sweeter than to gain, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/to-lose-thee-sweeter-than-to-gain.html, id L19024.
Form and metre
To lose thee, sweeter than to gain 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.
- 1 -A-A gain · knewA · destitute · dewA
- 2 -A-A sand · seaA · perquisite · beA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To lose thee, sweeter than to gain | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All other hearts I knew. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| 'T is true the drought is destitute, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| But then I had the dew! | 6 | ······ |
| The Caspian has its realms of sand, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| Its other realm of sea; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Without the sterile perquisite | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| No Caspian could be. | 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.