With a Flower
When roses cease to bloom, dear,And violets are done,When bumble-bees in solemn flightHave passed beyond the sun,
The hand that paused to gatherUpon this summer's dayWill idle lie, in Auburn, --Then take my flower, pray!
Words in this poem
- auburn a.
- Flaxen-colored. Florio. [OE. auburne blonde, OF. alborne, auborne, fr. LL. alburnus whitish, fr. L. albus white. Cf. Alburn.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
With a Flower 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, With a Flower, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/with-a-flower-2.html, id L03773.
Form and metre
With a Flower is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 dear · doneA · flight · sunA
- 2 -A-A gather · dayA · auburn · prayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When roses cease to bloom, dear, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And violets are done, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| When bumble-bees in solemn flight | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Have passed beyond the sun, | 6 | ······ |
| The hand that paused to gather | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Upon this summer's day | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Will idle lie, in Auburn, -- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Then take my flower, pray! | 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.