Lyric Poem · Hope
The way Hope builds his House
The way Hope builds his House
It is not with a sill —
Nor Rafter — has that Edifice
But only Pinnacle —
Abode in as supreme
This superficies
As if it were of Ledges smit
Or mortised with the Laws —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The way Hope builds his House” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/the-way-hope-builds-his-house
Quick facts
- Poem
- The way Hope builds his House
- 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
- Line length
- Mostly 6-syllable lines (trimeter length).
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
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 way Hope builds his House 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 f8e5b9f4d6ea3797…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Keep reading
The Zero on the Cake
The QuillOak Editors
8 lines · lyric
A Birthday Blessing
The QuillOak Editors
4 lines · quatrain
A Wish with a Face
The QuillOak Editors
6 lines · free verse