Lyric Poem · Nature

The Stars are old, that stood for me

by Emily Dickinson

The Stars are old, that stood for me —

The West a little worn —

Yet newer glows the only Gold

I ever cared to earn —

Presuming on that lone result

Her infinite disdain

But vanquished her with my defeat

'Twas Victory was slain.

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“The Stars are old, that stood for me” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/the-stars-are-old-that-stood-for-me

Quick facts

Poem: The Stars are old, that stood for me
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 8 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Nature, 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
Line length: Common metre. Alternating eight- and six-syllable lines — the hymn stanza (8.6.8.6), the most-used quatrain in English verse.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

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Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBThe Stars are old, that stood for me 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 c14b26d98d67b7aa…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Nature Short

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