Analysis of Of all the Sounds despatched abroad

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



Of all the Sounds despatched abroad,
There's not a Charge to me
Like that old measure in the Boughs—
That phraseless Melody—
The Wind does—working like a Hand,
Whose fingers Comb the Sky—
Then quiver down—with tufts of Tune—
Permitted Gods, and me—

Inheritance, it is, to us—
Beyond the Art to Earn—
Beyond the trait to take away
By Robber, since the Gain
Is gotten not of fingers—
And inner than the Bone—
Hid golden, for the whole of Days,
And even in the Urn,
I cannot vouch the merry Dust
Do not arise and play
In some odd fashion of its own,
Some quainter Holiday,
When Winds go round and round in Bands—
And thrum upon the door,
And Birds take places, overhead,
To bear them Orchestra.

I crave Him grace of Summer Boughs,
If such an Outcast be—
Who never heard that fleshless Chant—
Rise—solemn—on the Tree,
As if some Caravan of Sound
Off Deserts, in the Sky,
Had parted Rank,
Then knit, and swept—
In Seamless Company—


Scheme XABAXCXA XDEXXFXDXEFEXXXX BAXAXCXXA
Poetic Form
Metre 1101101 110111 11110001 11100 01110101 110101 11011111 010101 01001111 010111 01011101 110101 1101110 010101 11010111 010001 11010101 110101 01110111 1110 11110101 010101 01110101 111100 11111101 11111 1101111 110101 1111011 110001 1101 1101 010100
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 938
Words 173
Sentences 2
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 16, 9
Lines Amount 33
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 239
Words per stanza (avg) 57
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 20, 2023

52 sec read
150

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

All Emily Dickinson poems | Emily Dickinson Books

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