Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DA EAFGHGI JKLIJME NOPGQRR STKURRV RWXRY AZD DRRA2B2C2| First her tippet made of tulle | A |
| easily lifted off her shoulders and laid | B |
| on the back of a wooden chair | C |
| - | |
| And her bonnet | D |
| the bow undone with a light forward pull | A |
| - | |
| Then the long white dress a more | E |
| complicated matter with mother of pearl | A |
| buttons down the back | F |
| so tiny and numerous that it takes forever | G |
| before my hands can part the fabric | H |
| like a swimmer's dividing water | G |
| and slip inside | I |
| - | |
| You will want to know | J |
| that she was standing | K |
| by an open window in an upstairs bedroom | L |
| motionless a little wide eyed | I |
| looking out at the orchard below | J |
| the white dress puddled at her feet | M |
| on the wide board hardwood floor | E |
| - | |
| The complexity of women's undergarments | N |
| in nineteenth century America | O |
| is not to be waved off | P |
| and I proceeded like a polar explorer | G |
| through clips clasps and moorings | Q |
| catches straps and whalebone stays | R |
| sailing toward the iceberg of her nakedness | R |
| - | |
| Later I wrote in a notebook | S |
| it was like riding a swan into the night | T |
| but of course I cannot tell you everything | K |
| the way she closed her eyes to the orchard | U |
| how her hair tumbled free of its pins | R |
| how there were sudden dashes | R |
| whenever we spoke | V |
| - | |
| What I can tell you is | R |
| it was terribly quiet in Amherst | W |
| that Sabbath afternoon | X |
| nothing but a carriage passing the house | R |
| a fly buzzing in a windowpane | Y |
| - | |
| So I could plainly hear her inhale | A |
| when I undid the very top | Z |
| hook and eye fastener of her corset | D |
| - | |
| and I could hear her sigh when finally it was unloosed | D |
| the way some readers sigh when they realize | R |
| that Hope has feathers | R |
| that reason is a plank | A2 |
| that life is a loaded gun | B2 |
| that looks right at you with a yellow eye | C2 |
Billy Collins
(1)
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