“Shipwreck” Summary

“Shipwreck” Themes

• 

  Human Vulnerability and Nature's Indifference

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Shipwreck”

• Lines 1-5

  It tossed and tossed,—
  A little brig I knew,—
  O'ertook by blast,
  It spun and spun,
  And groped delirious, for morn.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 6-9

  It slipped and slipped,
  As one that drunken stepped;
  Its white foot tripped,
  Then dropped from sight.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 10-13

  Ah, brig, good-night
  To crew and you;
  The ocean's heart too smooth, too blue,
  To break for you.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“Shipwreck” Symbols

• 

  The Brig

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“Shipwreck” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Personification

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“Shipwreck” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Brig
• O'ertook
• Blast
• Groped delirious
• Morn
• Drunken stepped

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Shipwreck”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Shipwreck” Speaker

“Shipwreck” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Shipwreck”

More “Shipwreck” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Emily Dickinson Museum — Visit the website of the Emily Dickinson Museum to find a detailed overview of the poet's life and work. 

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of "Shipwreck."

  • Emily Dickinson Archive — Visit the Emily Dickinson Archive to see images of Dickinson's manuscripts (including this poem) and learn about how they were discovered and published.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!