Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Those fair—fictitious People

by Emily Dickinson

Those fair — fictitious People —

The Women — plucked away

From our familiar Lifetime —

The Men of Ivory —

Those Boys and Girls, in Canvas —

Who stay upon the Wall

In Everlasting Keepsake —

Can Anybody tell?

We trust — in places perfecter —

Inheriting Delight

Beyond our faint Conjecture —

Our dizzy Estimate —

Remembering ourselves, we trust —

Yet Blesseder — than We —

Through Knowing — where We only hope —

Receiving — where we — pray —

Of Expectation — also —

Anticipating us

With transport, that would be a pain

Except for Holiness —

Esteeming us — as Exile —

Themself — admitted Home —

Through easy Miracle of Death —

The Way ourself, must come —

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“Those fair—fictitious People” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/those-fair-fictitious-people

Quick facts

Poem: Those fair—fictitious People
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 24 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss, Hope, 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: 24 lines · 6 quatrains
Line length: Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Text, source & rights

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Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBThose fair—fictitious People 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 222c0197941baaed…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Death & Loss Hope Peace

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