Lyric Poem · Nature

The Moon was but a Chin of Gold

by Emily Dickinson

Reading room

1The Moon was but a Chin of Gold

2A Night or two ago —

3And now she turns Her perfect Face

4Upon the World below —

5Her Forehead is of Amplest Blonde —

6Her Cheek — a Beryl hewn —

7Her Eye unto the Summer Dew

8The likest I have known —

9Her Lips of Amber never part —

10But what must be the smile

11Upon Her Friend she could confer

12Were such Her Silver Will —

13And what a privilege to be

14But the remotest Star —

15For Certainty She take Her Way

16Beside Your Palace Door —

17Her Bonnet is the Firmament —

18The Universe — Her Shoe —

19The Stars — the Trinkets at Her Belt —

20Her Dimities — of Blue —

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“The Moon was but a Chin of Gold” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/the-moon-was-but-a-chin-of-gold

Quick facts

Poem: The Moon was but a Chin of Gold
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 20 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Summer, Friendship

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: 20 lines · 5 quatrains
Line length: Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

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Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBThe Moon was but a Chin of Gold 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 0a4d1c5cf3086848…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Summer Friendship

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