Analysis of One need not be a chamber to be haunted,

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



One need not be a chamber to be haunted,
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.

Far safer, of a midnight meeting
External ghost,
Than an interior confronting
That whiter host.

Far safer through an Abbey gallop,
The stones achase,
Than, moonless, one's own self encounter
In lonesome place.

Ourself, behind ourself concealed,
Should startle most;
Assassin, hid in our apartment,
Be horror's least.

The prudent carries a revolver,
He bolts the door,
O'erlooking a superior spectre
More near.


Scheme XABC BDBD XAEC XDXX EXEX
Poetic Form Tetractys  (40%)
Quatrain  (40%)
Etheree  (25%)
Metre 11110101110 111101 011100010 01001 11010110 0101 110100010 1101 110111010 011 11111010 0101 0010100101 1101 0101010010 111 010100010 1101 10010010 11
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 515
Words 87
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 84
Words per stanza (avg) 17
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

27 sec read
1,320

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

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