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Emily DickinsonThe Only News I Know
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1929A 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
Unlike many of Dickinson’s more famous poems, “The Only News I know” is not written in a hymn meter or ballad stanza structure. The poem is comprised of four tercets or three-line stanzas, for a total of twelve lines. Each line—with the exception of the twelfth and final line— is written in a halting form of iambic trimeter (six syllabic lines with a repeating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). The twelfth line adheres to iambic dimeter (a four syllabic line of unstressed and stressed syllables). The poem follows an ABC CBC DDE CFG rhyme scheme, meaning no stanza repeats the same rhyming pattern. While there are end rhymes throughout the poem, the rhyming is inconsistent, with the first and final stanzas lacking any kind of rhyming.
After the natural iambic rhythm created in the first stanza, Dickinson slows the rhythm of her poem and creates additional pauses with punctuation. As is typical of Dickinson’s poetry, “The Only News I know” features a number of dashes throughout. In the third stanza, Dickinson uses dashes to delay certain revelations. Before revealing what the “Only Street” (Line 8) she sees is, Dickinson inserts a dash immediately before the word “Existence” (Line 9). The pause that the dash produces ensures that the loneliness of Dickinson’s lifestyle is left momentarily in suspense and adequately emphasized. Dickinson also employs this same device in the second stanza to similar effect (Lines 4-5). The many dashes in the poem thus generate a slowed and deliberate rhythm and emphasize the philosophical concepts on which Dickinson daily meditates.
Alliteration
Dickinson repeatedly employs alliteration in “The Only News I know.” Alliteration is the deliberate repetition of a letter or sound at the beginning of two or more closely connected words or syllables. Alliteration occurs from the very beginning of the poem, as the titular first line repeats the N sound with the phrase “News I kNow” (emphasis added). Each of the first three stanzas contains some form of alliteration. In the second stanza, when describing the limited shows she sees, Dickinson refers to “TOmorrow and TOday” (Line 5), repeating the TO sound. In the next stanza, Dickinson introduces God as the “Only One” (Line 7) she meets with. This phrase is an example of assonance, a form of alliteration that specifically repeats vowel sounds. In this instance, Dickinson stresses the O vowel sound. The reoccurrence of alliteration gives the poem a more flowing and lyrical rhythmic quality, which clashes with the frequent stops caused by the abundance of dashes.
Repetition
Just as Dickinson repeats sounds with frequent alliteration, she also repeats certain words. Specifically, Dickinson repeats the word “only” four times in the poem. She refers to the “Only News” (Line 1) she knows, the “Only Shows” (Line 4) she sees, the “Only One” (Line 7) she meets with, and the “Only Street” (Line 8) she traverses. In each instance, the word “Only” serves as an adjective modifying or describing the nouns “news,” “shows,” “one,” and “street” by specifying the one street or show to which she is referring. Furthermore, as the word “only” indicates an exclusive, solitary, or singular object, the repetition of “only” throughout the poem also highlights the exclusive and solitary state of Dickinson herself. Like the street and the news she observes, she is the “only” one traversing her own “existence” (Line 9). Therefore, Dickinson repeats the word “only” to emphasize her loneliness and solitude.
Related Titles
By Emily Dickinson
