Lyric Poem · Nature

The Snow that never drifts

by Emily Dickinson

The Snow that never drifts —

The transient, fragrant snow

That comes a single time a Year

Is softly driving now —

So thorough in the Tree

At night beneath the star

That it was February's Foot

Experience would swear —

Like Winter as a Face

We stern and former knew

Repaired of all but Loneliness

By Nature's Alibit —

Were every storm so spice

The Value could not be —

We buy with contrast — Pang is good

As near as memory —

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“The Snow that never drifts” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/the-snow-that-never-drifts

Quick facts

Poem: The Snow that never drifts
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 16 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Winter

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: 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 Snow that never drifts 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 246c945131ebec22…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Winter

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