If I May Have It, When It's Dead by Emily Dickinson: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem If I May Have It, When It's Dead that begins with:

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If I may have it, when it's dead,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: X XXaX bXbX cXXXX XXXX XXXX ddcX XXaX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,4,4,5,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1 01110101 10100000 01111101 0101010 01110001 1111010 11111001 10001010 10010111 1000001010 100100010010 11110 110010 1111001010 1111110010 110110010 1111100110 11011100000 101101110 11010000010 1010011010 11111101 01011101 11001111 1111000100 011001110 110001110 01100111 100101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 139
  • Average number of words per stanza: 24
  • Amount of lines: 30
  • Average number of symbols per line: 36 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 6

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; to is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word how is repeated.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of If I May Have It, When It's Dead;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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