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Lyric Poem · Peace

Their Height in Heaven comforts not

by Emily Dickinson

1Their Height in Heaven comforts not —

2Their Glory — nought to me —

3'Twas best imperfect — as it was —

4I'm finite — I can't see —

5The House of Supposition —

6The Glimmering Frontier that

7Skirts the Acres of Perhaps —

8To Me — shows insecure —

9The Wealth I had — contented me —

10If 'twas a meaner size —

11Then I had counted it until

12It pleased my narrow Eyes —

13Better than larger values —

14That show however true —

15This timid life of Evidence

16Keeps pleading — "I don't know."

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Quick facts

Poem
Their Height in Heaven comforts not
Poet
Emily Dickinson
Length
16 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Peace

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
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

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
PoetryDBTheir Height in Heaven comforts not 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 0bac1aecf9cc4585
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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