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Lyric Poem · Nature

Like Rain it sounded till it curved

by Emily Dickinson

Like Rain it sounded till it curved

And then I new 'twas Wind —

It walked as wet as any Wave

But swept as dry as sand —

When it had pushed itself away

To some remotest Plain

A coming as of Hosts was heard

It filled the Wells, it pleased the Pools

It warbled in the Road —

It pulled the spigot from the Hills

And let the Floods abroad —

It loosened acres, lifted seas

The sites of Centres stirred

Then like Elijah rode away

Upon a Wheel of Cloud.

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Quick facts

Poem
Like Rain it sounded till it curved
Poet
Emily Dickinson
Length
15 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
15 lines · one 15-line stanza
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.

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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
PoetryDBLike Rain it sounded till it curved 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 b00c310970025235
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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