Lyric Poem · Nature

Beauty—be not caused—It Is

by Emily Dickinson

Reading room

1Beauty — be not caused — It Is —

2Chase it, and it ceases —

3Chase it not, and it abides —

4Overtake the Creases

5In the Meadow — when the Wind

6Runs his fingers thro' it —

7Deity will see to it

8That You never do it —

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“Beauty—be not caused—It Is” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/beauty-be-not-caused-it-is

Quick facts

Poem: Beauty—be not caused—It Is
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 8 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Nature, 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 · 3 stanzas of 1–4 lines
Line length: Lines run 5-7 syllables (median 6), consistent with trimeter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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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Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBBeauty—be not caused—It Is 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 1101fc5006c948d2…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Nature Short

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