Lyric Poem · Peace

I got so I could take his name

by Emily Dickinson

Reading room

1I got so I could take his name —

2Without — Tremendous gain —

3That Stop-sensation — on my Soul —

4And Thunder — in the Room —

5I got so I could walk across

6That Angle in the floor,

7Where he turned so, and I turned — how —

8And all our Sinew tore —

9I got so I could stir the Box —

10In which his letters grew

11Without that forcing, in my breath —

12As Staples — driven through —

13Could dimly recollect a Grace —

14I think, they call it "God" —

15Renowned to ease Extremity —

16When Formula, had failed —

17And shape my Hands —

18Petition's way,

19Tho' ignorant of a word

20That Ordination — utters —

21My Business, with the Cloud,

22If any Power behind it, be,

23Not subject to Despair —

24It care, in some remoter way,

25For so minute affair

26As Misery —

27Itself, too vast, for interrupting — more —

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“I got so I could take his name” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/i-got-so-i-could-take-his-name

Quick facts

Poem: I got so I could take his name
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 27 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: 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: 27 lines · 6 stanzas of 4–7 lines
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.

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Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBI got so I could take his name 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 2fc3061997d89597…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Peace

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