Analysis of If He were living—dare I ask

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



If He were living—dare I ask—
And how if He be dead—
And so around the Words I went—
Of meeting them—afraid—

I hinted Changes—Lapse of Time—
The Surfaces of Years—
I touched with Caution—lest they crack—
And show me to my fears—

Reverted to adjoining Lives—
Adroitly turning out
Wherever I suspected Graves—
'Twas prudenter—I thought—

And He—I pushed—with sudden force—
In face of the Suspense—
"Was buried"—"Buried"! "He!"
My Life just holds the Trench—


Scheme XXXX XAXA XXXX XXXX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (25%)
Metre 11010111 011111 01010111 110101 11010111 010011 11110111 011111 01010101 010101 01010101 1111 01111101 011001 110101 111101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 491
Words 79
Sentences 3
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 87
Words per stanza (avg) 19
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

24 sec read
348

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

All Emily Dickinson poems | Emily Dickinson Books

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    Who is the author of the renowned poem collection "Leaves of Grass"?
    A Emily Dickinson
    B Walt Whitman
    C Robert Frost
    D Langston Hughes