Lyric Poem · Nature

A soft Sea washed around the House

by Emily Dickinson

A Sea of Summer Air

And rose and fell the magic Planks

That sailed without a care —

For Captain was the Butterfly

For Helmsman was the Bee

And an entire universe

For the delighted crew.

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“A soft Sea washed around the House” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/a-soft-sea-washed-around-the-house

Quick facts

Poem: A soft Sea washed around the House
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 8 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Nature, Summer, Short

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: 8 lines · one 8-line stanza
Line length: Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

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Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBA soft Sea washed around the House 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 0cc125a8a578f2f0…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Nature Summer Short

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