Lyric Poem · Nature
I started Early—Took my Dog
1I started Early — Took my Dog —
2And visited the Sea —
3The Mermaids in the Basement
4Came out to look at me —
5And Frigates — in the Upper Floor
6Extended Hempen Hands —
7Presuming Me to be a Mouse —
8Aground — upon the Sands —
9But no Man moved Me — till the Tide
10Went past my simple Shoe —
11And past my Apron — and my Belt —
12And past my Bodice — too —
13And made as He would eat me up —
14As wholly as a Dew
15Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve —
16And then — I started — too —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“I started Early—Took my Dog” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/i-started-early-took-my-dog
Quick facts
- Poem
- I started Early—Took my Dog
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 24 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature
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
- 24 lines · 6 quatrains
- End rhyme
- ABCB in 67% of the stanzas — ballad rhyme — only lines 2 and 4 chime. The remaining stanzas vary, often through slant rhyme.
- 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
- PoetryDBI started Early—Took my Dog 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 bf21872366a92b50…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.