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Lyric Poem · Nature

They shut me up in Prose

by Emily Dickinson

1They shut me up in Prose —

2As when a little Girl

3They put me in the Closet —

4Because they liked me "still" —

5Still! Could themself have peeped —

6And seen my Brain — go round —

7They might as wise have lodged a Bird

8For Treason — in the Pound —

9Himself has but to will

10And easy as a Star

11Abolish his Captivity —

12And laugh — No more have I —

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
They shut me up in Prose
Poet
Emily Dickinson
Length
12 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature

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
12 lines · 3 quatrains
Line length
Mostly 6-syllable lines (trimeter length).
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
PoetryDBThey shut me up in Prose 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 bd41e7a20f6cf76d
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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