18 pages • 36 minutes read
Emily DickinsonWe Grow Accustomed to the Dark
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1935A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Form and Meter
Like the majority of Emily Dickinson’s work, this poem is made up of quatrains, or four-line stanzas—in this case, five stanzas for a total of 20 lines. The poem is largely composed of what is called “ballad stanzas,” which are stanzas that alternate between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. This was a common rhythmic form in many old folk ballads and songs, which is where the style gets its name.
For example, the first two lines are iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter: “We grow accustomed to the Dark — / When Light is put away” (Lines 1-2). A stressed syllable follows an unstressed syllable, with the first totaling eight syllables and the second, six syllables. However, this does not remain consistent for the entire poem. The final two stanzas reduce the eight-syllable lines to seven syllables, dropping the final stressed syllable at the end.
The poem does not have a rigid rhyme scheme but uses occasional end rhymes as well as internal rhymes and similar sounds to enhance its rhythm. In the first stanza, “away” and “goodbye” end on similar sounds (Lines 2, 4), while in the second stanza, the first and last line end on similar sounds: “step” and “erect” (Lines 5, 8). The final two stanzas use true end rhymes, although their placement is varied: “And sometimes hit a Tree […] But as they learn to see” (Lines 14, 16) is a true rhyme, as well as “Or something in the sight / Adjusts itself to Midnight” (Lines 18-19). The addition of true rhymes towards the end of the poem reflects the way the speaker is learning to find comfort and structure in the dark, rather than randomness and chaos.
Assonance and Consonance
In lieu of a rigid rhyme scheme and consistent structure, “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark” uses assonance and consonance, or repeated vowel and consonant sounds, to enhance its rhythm. In the first stanza, the opening lines favor hard consonants like Ds and Ts in “accustomed to the Dark” (Line 1) and the words “Light” and “put” (Line 2). However, these sounds soften in the following two lines with more Ws, Ls, and vowel sounds. The second stanza uses smooth consonants like M, N, and S to create the softening sensation of falling darkness in words like “Moment” and “meet” (Lines 5, 8); “Uncertain step” (Line 5); and the alliteration in “newness of the night” (Line 6).
The third stanza uses parallel sounds in “larger — Darknesses” and “Brain” (Lines 9, 10). The D sound is also echoed in “disclose” (Line 11), which leads into the repeated S sounds of “sign” and “Star” (Lines 11, 12). The stanza is also heavy in vowel sounds. In the fourth stanza, the auditory imprint returns to the harder consonants, mirroring the erratic nature of the speaker trying to find their way in the dark. This stanza uses repeated T sounds in “little” and “sometimes hit a Tree” (Lines 13, 14), and sharp Ds in “Directly” and “Forehead” (Line 15).
This element continues into the final stanza: “Either the Darkness alters” (Line 17), with the hard D, K, and T sounds. The consonance then softens in the closing lines, reflecting the feeling of peace the speaker experiences as they come to the end of their journey. These last lines are heavy in S sounds, which are predominant in each line from the end of “Darkness” (Line 17) to the landing words of “steps almost straight” (Line 20).
Caesura
Caesura, or the division of a line using a break in clauses, is a common element of Dickinson’s work. Where other poets most often use commas to divide ideas mid-line, Dickinson famously favors the em-dash. However, she uses these to set apart moments or thematic ideas, rather than grammatically correct clauses. In this way the caesura is used mostly as a rhythmic device.
The second stanza opens, “A Moment — We Uncertain step” (Line 5). Today, this might have been written with a colon instead of an em-dash; the initial clause introduces the following idea. The same technique is used in “Then — fit our Vision” (Line 7). The third stanza uses caesura in “And so of larger — Darknesses —” and “Or Star — come out — within —” (Lines 9, 12), and it appears again in “The Bravest — grope a little —” (Line 13). In each instance, the em-dashes create varied layers of meaning in the imagery.
In the enjambment between the third and fourth stanzas, the em-dashes allow the poem to be read multiple ways. One could read “within” as the end of one sentence and idea, or an enjambed element of “within The Bravest.” The blended use of caesura and enjambment allow the reader to absorb the poem on a unique and personal level. The final stanza does not contain any caesura at all, and the em-dashes are concentrated at the end of each line. This suggests a cohesion and clarity that the speaker is discovering within the dark.
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By Emily Dickinson
