Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
When I was small, a Woman died
1When I was small, a Woman died —
2Today — her Only Boy
3Went up from the Potomac —
4His face all Victory
5To look at her — How slowly
6The Seasons must have turned
7Till Bullets clipt an Angle
8And He passed quickly round —
9If pride shall be in Paradise —
10Ourself cannot decide —
11Of their imperial Conduct —
12No person testified —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“When I was small, a Woman died” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/when-i-was-small-a-woman-died
Quick facts
- Poem
- When I was small, a Woman died
- Poet
- Emily Dickinson
- Length
- 20 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Death & Loss, 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
- 20 lines · 5 quatrains
- End rhyme
- No regular perfect end rhyme. The poem may still be using slant rhyme, assonance, or internal echo, which this check does not score.
- Line length
- Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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
- Emily Dickinson1830–1886
- Source record
- PoetryDBWhen I was small, a Woman died 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 22776994e857c725…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.