Lyric Poem · Nature
On this long storm the Rainbow rose
On this long storm the Rainbow rose —
On this late Morn — the Sun —
The clouds — like listless Elephants —
Horizons — straggled down —
The Birds rose smiling, in their nests —
The gales — indeed — were done —
Alas, how heedless were the eyes —
On whom the summer shone!
The quiet nonchalance of death —
No Daybreak — can bestir —
The slow — Archangel's syllables
Must awaken her!
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“On this long storm the Rainbow rose” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/on-this-long-storm-the-rainbow-rose
Quick facts
- Poem
- On this long storm the Rainbow rose
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 12 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Summer, Death & Loss
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 · 3 quatrains
- Line length
- Lines run 5-8 syllables (median 7). 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
- PoetryDBOn this long storm the Rainbow rose 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 c09551cd5469f8d3…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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