Lyric Poem · Nature

To Flush, My Dog

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Reading room

1Yet, my pretty sportive friend,

2Little is't to such an end

3That I praise thy rareness!

4Other dogs may be thy peers

5Haply in these drooping ears,

6And this glossy fairness.

7But of thee it shall be said,

8This dog watched beside a bed

9Day and night unweary—

10Watched within a curtained room,

11Where no sunbeam brake the gloom

12Round the sick and dreary.

13Roses, gathered for a vase,

14In that chamber died apace,

15Beam and breeze resigning.

16This dog only, waited on,

17Knowing that when light is gone

18Love remains for shining.

19Other dogs in thymy dew

20Tracked the hares, and followed through

21Sunny moor or meadow.

22This dog only, crept and crept

23Next a languid cheek that slept,

24Sharing in the shadow.

25Other dogs of loyal cheer

26Bounded at the whistle clear,

27Up the woodside hieing.

28This dog only, watched in reach

29Of a faintly uttered speech,

30Or a louder sighing.

31And if one or two quick tears

32Dropped upon his glossy ears,

33Or a sigh came double—

34Up he sprang in eager haste,

35Fawning, fondling, breathing fast,

36In a tender trouble.

37And this dog was satisfied

38If a pale thin hand would glide

39Down his dewlaps sloping—

40Which he pushed his nose within,

41After—platforming his chin

42On the palm left open.

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

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“To Flush, My Dog” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning — quilloak.com/poems/to-flush-my-dog

Quick facts

Poem: To Flush, My Dog
Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Length: 42 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Sad, Love

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: 42 lines · 7 sestets
Line length: Mostly 7-syllable lines.

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.

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: Elizabeth Barrett Browning1806–1861
Source record: PoetryDBTo Flush, My Dog by elizabeth-barrett-browning, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 ee1ed43d59d67fad…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Nature Sad Love

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More nature poems →