Analysis of The Day Came Slow

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



The day came slow, till five o'clock,
Then sprang before the hills,
Like hindered rubies, or the light,
A sudden musket spills.

The purple could not keep the east.
The sunrise shook from fold.
Like breadths of topaz, packed a night,
The lady just unrolled.

The happy winds their timbrels took;
The birds in docile rows,
Arranged themselves around their prince.
(The wind is prince of those.)

The orchard sparkled like a Jew,---
How mighty 'twas to stay,
A guest in this stupendous place,
The parlor of the day.


Scheme XABA XXBB XCXC XDXD
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 01111101 110101 11010101 010101 01011101 01111 1111101 01011 0101111 010101 01010111 011111 01010101 110111 01010101 010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 504
Words 93
Sentences 8
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 99
Words per stanza (avg) 22
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 06, 2023

28 sec read
136

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

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