Lyric Poem · Life

He put the Belt around my life

by Emily Dickinson

I heard the Buckle snap —

And turned away, imperial,

My Lifetime folding up —

Deliberate, as a Duke would do

A Kingdom's Title Deed —

Henceforth, a Dedicated sort —

A Member of the Cloud.

Yet not too far to come at call —

And do the little Toils

That make the Circuit of the Rest —

And deal occasional smiles

To lives that stoop to notice mine —

And kindly ask it in —

Whose invitation, know you not

For Whom I must decline?

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“He put the Belt around my life” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/he-put-the-belt-around-my-life

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.

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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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Lyric Poem Life

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