Lyric Poem · Nature
A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree
1A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree —
2Another — on the Roof —
3A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves —
4And made the Gables laugh —
5A few went out to help the Brook
6That went to help the Sea —
7Myself Conjectured were they Pearls —
8What Necklace could be —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/a-drop-fell-on-the-apple-tree
Quick facts
- Poem
- A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 16 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Love
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 16 lines · 4 quatrains
- Line length
- Lines run 5-8 syllables (median 6), consistent with trimeter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Emily Dickinson1830–1886
- Source record
- PoetryDBA Drop Fell on the Apple Tree by emily-dickinson, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 83fdae6049d4846a…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.