Lyric Poem · Nature

My Faith is larger than the Hills

by Emily Dickinson

My Faith is larger than the Hills —

So when the Hills decay —

My Faith must take the Purple Wheel

To show the Sun the way —

'Tis first He steps upon the Vane —

And then — upon the Hill —

And then abroad the World He go

To do His Golden Will —

And if His Yellow feet should miss —

The Bird would not arise —

The Flowers would slumber on their Stems —

No Bells have Paradise —

How dare I, therefore, stint a faith

On which so vast depends —

Lest Firmament should fail for me —

The Rivet in the Bands

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“My Faith is larger than the Hills” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/my-faith-is-larger-than-the-hills

Quick facts

Poem: My Faith is larger than the Hills
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 16 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: 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: 16 lines · 4 quatrains
Line length: Consistent with common metre. Alternating eight- and six-syllable lines — the hymn stanza (8.6.8.6), the most-used quatrain in English verse.

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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: PoetryDBMy Faith is larger than the Hills 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 c6c0c7240f73b043…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Dreams & Sleep

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