Lyric Poem · Winter

In Winter in my Room

by Emily Dickinson

Reading room

1In Winter in my Room

2I came upon a Worm —

3Pink, lank and warm —

4But as he was a worm

5And worms presume

6Not quite with him at home —

7Secured him by a string

8To something neighboring

9And went along.

10A Trifle afterward

11A thing occurred

12I'd not believe it if I heard

13But state with creeping blood —

14A snake with mottles rare

15Surveyed my chamber floor

16In feature as the worm before

17But ringed with power —

18The very string with which

19I tied him — too

20When he was mean and new

21That string was there —

22I shrank — "How fair you are"!

23Propitiation's claw —

24"Afraid," he hissed

25"Of me"?

26"No cordiality" —

27He fathomed me —

28Then to a Rhythm Slim

29Secreted in his Form

30As Patterns swim

31Projected him.

32That time I flew

33Both eyes his way

34Lest he pursue

35Nor ever ceased to run

36Till in a distant Town

37Towns on from mine

38I set me down

39This was a dream.

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“In Winter in my Room” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/in-winter-in-my-room

Quick facts

Poem: In Winter in my Room
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 39 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Winter, Nature, Dreams & Sleep

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: 39 lines · 5 stanzas of 4–10 lines
Line length: Lines run 4-6 syllables (median 5). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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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: PoetryDBIn Winter in my Room 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 831048f4ef03619c…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Winter Nature Dreams & Sleep

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