Wedded
A solemn thing it was, I said,A woman white to be,And wear, if God should count me fit,Her hallowed mystery.
A timid thing to drop a lifeInto the purple well,Too plummetless that it come backEternity until.
About this text
Wedded 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, Wedded, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/wedded.html, id L03782.
Form and metre
Wedded is 8 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 1 line ends 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A solemn thing it was, I said, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A woman white to be, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And wear, if God should count me fit, | 8 | ········ |
| Her hallowed mystery. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| A timid thing to drop a life | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Into the purple well, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Too plummetless that it come back | 8 | ········ |
| Eternity until. | 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.