Meter

Dickinson’s poetry often follows the meter found in English hymnals. This contributes to the ease with which many of her poems can be sung. One interesting bit of trivia related to the rhythm of Dickinson’s poems is that many of them seamlessly match the theme song to the Gilligan’s Island television show.

When reading Dickinson, pay attention to the arrangement of weak and strong syllables in her poems. For example, note the pattern in the first stanza of “I died for Beauty—but was scarce” (#448/449):

Note the reoccurrence of three weak syllables in lines 1, 2 & 3 and the presence of four iambic feet in line three. Why does the rhythm in line three stand out?

Try accenting the strong syllables while you read the passage aloud.

For more information, see this Wikipedia article about hymn meter.