We Grow Accustomed to the Dark

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).