Lyric Poem · Hope
When I hoped, I recollect
1When I hoped, I recollect
2Just the place I stood —
3At a Window facing West —
4Roughest Air — was good —
5Not a Sleet could bite me —
6Not a frost could cool —
7Hope it was that kept me warm —
8Not Merino shawl —
9When I feared — I recollect
10Just the Day it was —
11Worlds were lying out to Sun —
12Yet how Nature froze —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“When I hoped, I recollect” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/when-i-hoped-i-recollect
Quick facts
- Poem
- When I hoped, I recollect
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 24 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Hope, Nature, Winter
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 · 5 stanzas of 4–8 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 5-7 syllables (median 6), consistent with trimeter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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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
- PoetryDBWhen I hoped, I recollect 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 f2132f4f961d01e8…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.