Lyric Poem · Friendship

I felt my life with both my hands

by Emily Dickinson

Reading room

1I felt my life with both my hands

2To see if it was there —

3I held my spirit to the Glass,

4To prove it possibler —

5I turned my Being round and round

6And paused at every pound

7To ask the Owner's name —

8For doubt, that I should know the Sound —

9I judged my features — jarred my hair —

10I pushed my dimples by, and waited —

11If they — twinkled back —

12Conviction might, of me —

13I told myself, "Take Courage, Friend —

14That — was a former time —

15But we might learn to like the Heaven,

16As well as our Old Home!"

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“I felt my life with both my hands” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/i-felt-my-life-with-both-my-hands

Quick facts

Poem: I felt my life with both my hands
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 16 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Friendship, Peace

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
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 6-8 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

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Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBI felt my life with both my hands 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 26b9be58c52a8485…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Friendship Peace

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