Dust
When I went to look at what had long been hidden,A jewel laid long ago in a secret place,I trembled, for I thought to see its dark deep fire--But only a pinch of dust blew up in my face.
I almost gave my life long ago for a thingThat has gone to dust now, stinging my eyes--It is strange how often a heart must be brokenBefore the years can make it wise.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dust is in the public domain. This text is taken from Flame and Shadow, Project Gutenberg ebook #591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, Dust, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/dust.html, id L17016.
Form and metre
Dust is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.1 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 alexandrines.
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 hidden · placeA · fire · faceA
- 2 -A-A thing · eyesA · broken · wiseA
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 alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When I went to look at what had long been hidden, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| A jewel laid long ago in a secret place, | 11 | ·/··˘/··/˘· |
| I trembled, for I thought to see its dark deep fire-- | 12 | ·/˘········/ |
| But only a pinch of dust blew up in my face. | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| I almost gave my life long ago for a thing | 12 | ·/·····˘/··· |
| That has gone to dust now, stinging my eyes-- | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| It is strange how often a heart must be broken | 12 | ····/˘····/˘ |
| Before the years can make it wise. | 8 | ········ |
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.