Lyric Poem · Hope

The Service without Hope

by Emily Dickinson

The Service without Hope —

Is tenderest, I think —

Because 'tis unsustained

By stint — Rewarded Work —

Has impetus of Gain —

And impetus of Goal —

There is no Diligence like that

That knows not an Until —

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“The Service without Hope” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/the-service-without-hope

Quick facts

Poem: The Service without Hope
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 8 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Hope, Short

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: 8 lines · 2 quatrains
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: 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: PoetryDBThe Service without Hope 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 8d85a3843b1d3a9c…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Hope Short

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