Analysis of My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun -
In Corners - till a Day
The Owner passed - identified -
And carried Me away -

And now We roam in Sovreign Woods -
And now We hunt the Doe -
And every time I speak for Him
The Mountains straight reply -

And do I smile, such cordial light
Opon the Valley glow -
It is as a Vesuvian face
Had let it’s pleasure through -

And when at Night - Our good Day done -
I guard My Master’s Head -
’Tis better than the Eider Duck’s
Deep Pillow - to have shared -

To foe of His - I’m deadly foe -
None stir the second time -
On whom I lay a Yellow Eye -
Or an emphatic Thumb -

Though I than He - may longer live
He longer must - than I -
For I have but the power to kill,
Without - the power to die -


Scheme ABXB XCXD XCXX AXXX CXDX XDXD
Poetic Form Quatrain  (33%)
Metre 11110101 010101 0101010 010101 0111011 011101 010011111 010101 01111101 10101 111011 111101 011110111 111101 1101011 110111 11111101 110101 11110101 110101 11111101 110111 111101011 0101011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 707
Words 164
Sentences 1
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 87
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted by hakikur on March 28, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
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Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

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