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Question: Emily Dickinson help!?
The poem "This is my letter to the World" is written in alternating lines of 8 & 6 iambic syllables!. But does the 1st line in the 2nd stanza, "Her Message is committed" only have 7 iambic syllables!?

If so, does that make the line catalectic!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Yes!. In this case that is the term I would use!.

My main reservation is that these are iambic lines; therefore, removing the last syllable removes the strong accent!. If the line appeared by itself, it would hence be more natural to call it hypercatalectic (one extra syllable) iambic trimeter rather than catalectic iambic tetrameter!. However, since this is in Emily Dickinson's common measure (8-6-8-6 iambic) it is natural to use the term which marks the deviation from the normal pattern!.

I think you've understood the point all along, so I am sorry of I have belaboured it excessively!.

Edit: I apologise; I neglected to answer your first question!. To be clear, the above interpretation reads all of the lines as iambic (trochaic catalectic missing the first syllable does not accord with the rhythm of the poem, or the line, even if it is technically not incorrect!.)Www@QuestionHome@Com

i donno knowWww@QuestionHome@Com