Dickinson also employs enjambment but (in my humble opinion) should have run the word “Tonight” into the next line as the beginning word rather than as an enjambment. Stanza 3 uses the rhyming pattern of ABCA.

However, the cadence is still present and so is the rhythm even as there is a tonal shift, more sing-song than in the first stanza. The second stanza does not have any particular scheme. This poem has cadence and rhythm even if one has to stretch the “luxury” in order to hear the long “e” and in order to help the poem confirm to the rhyming scheme of ABBB. Her poem, like Milton’s, is unorthodox because it is rife with exclamation marks, which could show intensity of emotions or the excitement of reuniting with a lover. It is refreshing to read a Dickinson poem that is not about death or dying or some other form of morbidity. The idea of Dickinson writing a poem with “wild” in it causes me to giggle but also to pay particular attention to it because I know there is surprise in store for me.Īlthough the poem contains no plot per se, it does indicate some sexual undertones, which may not be what she had intended. The second poem I choose to analyze is Emily Dickinson’s “Wild Nights,” Poem 249. As for meter, the poem employs iambic pentameter it provides five iambs (an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable), and a few of the lines do not follow any regular pattern. Unlike a classic Italian sonnet, “When I consider how my light is spent” does not divide cleanly into eight lines and six lines. He splices end words into the next line and creates some of the most fascinating enjambments from Line 1 into 2: “my light is spent ere half my days” or “My soul more bent to serve” for Lines 4 and 5. Because he sacrificed cadence (at least not one that is decipherable or consistent) for enjambment, his poem lacks the sophistication I have come to expect from him. Milton does not conform to traditional meter. Shakespeare leaves the last two lines of the Shakespearean sonnet as couplets. Unlike the Shakespearean sonnet, in the Italian sonnet, the 14 lines run continuously. The first eight lines, the octave, do lament wasted time and asks God for patience to prevent “the murmur” of displeasure from Him. For this particular poem, the rhyming pattern is ABBA (spent, wide, hide, and bent) ABBA (present, chide, denied, prevent), CDE (need, best, state) and CDE (speed, test, wait), which Milton maintains effortlessly. I will start with John Milton’s “When I consider how my light is spent.” This poem is one of John Milton’s sonnets, a Petrarchan sonnet in iambic pentameter, and I have written a few of those. However, like her, I have written thousands of poems and hope to release them to the world sometime soon. I like Emily Dickinson’s poems despite her morbidity. William Shakespeare himself, but I will try not to let him take center stage.Īctually, I find any poet of repute very interesting. Of course, any discussion of poetry will be incomplete without the mention of the BARD, Mr.

What unfolds today is my attempt to analyze these two literary giants and some of their works.

Poem with dashes and enjabments