Lyric Poem · Summer

Her final Summer was it

by Emily Dickinson

Her final Summer was it —

And yet We guessed it not —

If tenderer industriousness

Pervaded Her, We thought

A further force of life

Developed from within —

When Death lit all the shortness up

It made the hurry plain —

We wondered at our blindness

When nothing was to see

But Her Carrara Guide post —

At Our Stupidity —

When duller than our dullness

The Busy Darling lay —

So busy was she — finishing —

So leisurely — were We —

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“Her final Summer was it” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/her-final-summer-was-it

Quick facts

Poem: Her final Summer was it
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 16 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Summer, Nature, Death & Loss

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 · 4 quatrains
Line length: Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). 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: PoetryDBHer final Summer was it 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 e83a644a74383648…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Summer Nature Death & Loss

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