Emily Dickinson often used common meter.
She also used mundane subject matter to discuss deeper ideas. She used the capitalization of nouns to highlight or personify them and she used Dashes instead of traditional punctuation.
Common meter (also known as hymn meter) consists of quatrains that alternate between lines of iambic tetrameter (four feet of iambs, or eight syllables) and iambic trimeter (three feet of iambs, or six syllables). The basic rhythmic unit of an iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (da-DUM). This meter creates a rhythmic and musical quality, often used in ballads and hymns, lending itself well to storytelling and reflective themes.
Heirlooms and Memories
First stanza:
Boxes hold junk and treasures dear—
8 syllables (iambic tetrameter)
those things both old and worn—
6 syllables (iambic trimeter)
dusty bits fade — then reappear—
8 syllables (iambic tetrameter)
family both dead and born.
6 syllables (iambic trimeter)
Second stanza:
A locket tarnished, shining faint—
8 syllables (iambic tetrameter)
no photo tucked inside—
6 syllables (iambic trimeter)
some moments mundane, others quaint—
8 syllables (iambic tetrameter)
Where love and loss collide.
6 syllables (iambic trimeter)
Third stanza:
The Quilt, once warm, now frayed with time—
8 syllables (iambic tetrameter)
unusable yet, still—
6 syllables (iambic trimeter)
it speaks of lullabies and rhyme—
8 syllables (iambic tetrameter)
a legacy of will.
6 syllables (iambic trimeter)
Fourth stanza:
In heirlooms apparitions play—
8 syllables (iambic tetrameter)
the useless pieces lie—
6 syllables (iambic trimeter)
though they fade— though they fall away—
8 syllables (iambic tetrameter)
their memories do not die.
6 syllables (iambic trimeter)

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