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Lyric Poem · Life

He put the Belt around my life

by Emily Dickinson

1He put the Belt around my life

2I heard the Buckle snap —

3And turned away, imperial,

4My Lifetime folding up —

5Deliberate, as a Duke would do

6A Kingdom's Title Deed —

7Henceforth, a Dedicated sort —

8A Member of the Cloud.

9Yet not too far to come at call —

10And do the little Toils

11That make the Circuit of the Rest —

12And deal occasional smiles

13To lives that stoop to notice mine —

14And kindly ask it in —

15Whose invitation, know you not

16For Whom I must decline?

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Quick facts

Poem
He put the Belt around my life
Poet
Emily Dickinson
Length
16 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Life

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 · 2 octaves
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
Lines run 6-9 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. 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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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
PoetryDBHe put the Belt around my life 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 5c50e62ab65a2915
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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