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Lyric Poem · Nature

A Light exists in Spring

by Emily Dickinson

1A Light exists in Spring

2Not present on the Year

3At any other period —

4When March is scarcely here

5A Color stands abroad

6On Solitary Fields

7That Science cannot overtake

8But Human Nature feels.

9It waits upon the Lawn,

10It shows the furthest Tree

11Upon the furthest Slope you know

12It almost speaks to you.

13Then as Horizons step

14Or Noons report away

15Without the Formula of sound

16It passes and we stay —

17A quality of loss

18Affecting our Content

19As Trade had suddenly encroached

20Upon a Sacrament.

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Quick facts

Poem
A Light exists in Spring
Poet
Emily Dickinson
Length
20 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature, Spring

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
20 lines · 5 quatrains
End rhyme
No regular perfect end rhyme. The poem may still be using slant rhyme, assonance, or internal echo, which this check does not score.
Line length
Consistent with short metre. Two short lines, one longer, one short (6.6.8.6) — the short hymn stanza.
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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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 Light exists in Spring 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 00197c899004f701
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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