Trying to Forget
Bereaved of all, I went abroad,No less bereaved to beUpon a new peninsula, --The grave preceded me,
Obtained my lodgings ere myself,And when I sought my bed,The grave it was, reposed uponThe pillow for my head.
I waked, to find it first awake,I rose, -- it followed me;I tried to drop it in the crowd,To lose it in the sea,
In cups of artificial drowseTo sleep its shape away, --The grave was finished, but the spadeRemained in memory.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- reposed a.
- Composed; calm; tranquil; at rest.
- drowse v. i.
- To sleep imperfectly or unsoundly; to slumber; to be heavy with sleepiness; to doze. [AS. dr, dr, to sink, become slow or inactive; cf. OD. droosen to be sleepy, fall asleep, LG. dr, druusken, to slumber, fall down with a noise; prob, akin to AS.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Trying to Forget 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, Trying to Forget, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/trying-to-forget.html, id L03812.
Form and metre
Trying to Forget is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 abroad · beA · peninsula · meA
- 2 -A-A myself · bedA · upon · headA
- 3 -A-A awake · meA · crowd · seaA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bereaved of all, I went abroad, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| No less bereaved to be | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Upon a new peninsula, -- | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| The grave preceded me, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Obtained my lodgings ere myself, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··/ |
| And when I sought my bed, | 6 | ······ |
| The grave it was, reposed upon | 8 | ····/··· |
| The pillow for my head. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I waked, to find it first awake, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I rose, -- it followed me; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I tried to drop it in the crowd, | 8 | ········ |
| To lose it in the sea, | 6 | ······ |
| In cups of artificial drowse | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| To sleep its shape away, -- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The grave was finished, but the spade | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Remained in memory. | 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.