Lyric Poem · Peace
Joy to have merited the Pain
Joy to have merited the Pain —
To merit the Release —
Joy to have perished every step —
To Compass Paradise —
Pardon — to look upon thy face —
With these old fashioned Eyes —
Better than new — could be — for that —
Though bought in Paradise —
Because they looked on thee before —
And thou hast looked on them —
Prove Me — My Hazel Witnesses
The features are the same —
So fleet thou wert, when present —
So infinite — when gone —
An Orient's Apparition —
Remanded of the Morn —
The Height I recollect —
'Twas even with the Hills —
The Depth upon my Soul was notched —
As Floods — on Whites of Wheels —
To Haunt — till Time have dropped
His last Decade away,
And Haunting actualize — to last
At least — Eternity —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Joy to have merited the Pain” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/joy-to-have-merited-the-pain
Quick facts
- Poem
- Joy to have merited the Pain
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 24 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
- 24 lines · 6 quatrains
- Line length
- Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 6), consistent with trimeter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
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
- PoetryDBJoy to have merited the Pain 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 173ee44f3e62e68b…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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