Analysis of I can't tell you—but you feel it
Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)
I can't tell you—but you feel it—
Nor can you tell me—
Saints, with ravished slate and pencil
Solve our April Day!
Sweeter than a vanished frolic
From a vanished green!
Swifter than the hoofs of Horsemen
Round a Ledge of dream!
Modest, let us walk among it
With our faces veiled—
As they say polite Archangels
Do in meeting God!
Not for me—to prate about it!
Not for you—to say
To some fashionable Lady
"Charming April Day"!
Rather—Heaven's "Peter Parley"!
By which Children slow
To sublimer Recitation
Are prepared to go!
| Scheme | ABXC XXDX AXXX ACBC BEDE |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | Quatrain (40%) Etheree (35%) Tetractys (30%) |
| Metre | 11111111 11111 1111010 110101 10101010 10101 10101110 10111 10111011 110101 1110110 10101 11111011 11111 11100010 10101 10101010 11101 11010 10111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 525 |
| Words | 94 |
| Sentences | 9 |
| Stanzas | 5 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
| Lines Amount | 20 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
| Words per line (avg) | 5 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 82 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 18 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 22, 2023
- 28 sec read
- 163 Views
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"I can't tell you—but you feel it" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/11729/i-can%27t-tell-you%E2%80%94but-you-feel-it>.
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