Quatrain Quandary
Dickinson definitely had a particular style; in fact, she’s known for it. All those dashes and capitalized words certainly have an effect; they make us pause and consider each word. For example:
A Moment - We Uncertain step
In between “Moment” and “We” we take a pause, and then we linger on “Uncertain.” These stylistic choices add emphasis where there otherwise might have been none.
But these aren’t the only tricks up Dickinson’s sleeve; she also used form and meter. Before we get to the specifics, though, let’s break it down, starting with the basics.
A stanza is just a group of lines formed into a unit (usually separated from other stanzas by spacing). Check out the poem: each stanza has four lines. That makes them quatrains. There are five quatrains, total. Simple enough, huh?
But within these quatrains is some pretty sophisticated word play. This is when meter comes into play.
Meter is the poem’s rhythm, which is composed of beats. Think of it this way: when you read a line aloud, does it go daDUM daDUM daDUM or DUMda DUMda DUMda? Try reading the following line aloud as you consider what is rhythmically happening:
We grow accustomed to the Dark—
daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM, right?
Each of these beats is technically called a foot. There are types of feet; a foot that sounds like “daDUM” is called an iamb. Because there are four iambs in this line, it’s composed in iambic tetrameter.
Now, let’s check out the second line and see if it follows the same form:
When light is put away—
daDUM daDUM daDUM.
That’s three iambs, so the line is written in iambic trimeter. Dickinson follows this form throughout most of the poem; each 1st and 3rd line in each stanza is written in iambic tetrameter while each 2nd and 4th line is written in iambic trimeter, at least until we get to the end, where things get a little wacky, sound-wise. Check out “Sound Check” for the full scoop.