Lyric Poem · Nature
"Nature" is what we see
1"Nature" is what we see —
2The Hill — the Afternoon —
3Squirrel — Eclipse — the Bumble bee —
4Nay — Nature is Heaven —
5Nature is what we hear —
6The Bobolink — the Sea —
7Thunder — the Cricket —
8Nay — Nature is Harmony —
9Nature is what we know —
10Yet have no art to say —
11So impotent Our Wisdom is
12To her Simplicity.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“"Nature" is what we see” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/nature-is-what-we-see
Quick facts
- Poem
- "Nature" is what we see
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 12 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, 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
- 12 lines · one 12-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 6-syllable lines (trimeter length).
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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
- PoetryDB"Nature" is what we see 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 75ff857acc609056…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.