Lyric Poem · Nature

How many Flowers fail in Wood

by Emily Dickinson

How many Flowers fail in Wood —

Or perish from the Hill —

Without the privilege to know

That they are Beautiful —

How many cast a nameless Pod

Upon the nearest Breeze —

Unconscious of the Scarlet Freight —

It bear to Other Eyes —

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“How many Flowers fail in Wood” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/how-many-flowers-fail-in-wood

Quick facts

Poem: How many Flowers fail in Wood
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 · 2 quatrains
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 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: PoetryDBHow many Flowers fail in Wood 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 d385fcf0d4cb4b74…
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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