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Lyric Poem · Nature

Witchcraft was hung, in History

by Emily Dickinson

'Twas such a little — little boat

That toddled down the bay!

'Twas such a gallant — gallant sea

That beckoned it away!

'Twas such a greedy, greedy wave

That licked it from the Coast —

Nor ever guessed the stately sails

My little craft was lost!

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Quick facts

Poem
Witchcraft was hung, in History
Poet
Emily Dickinson
Length
8 lines
Form
Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes
Nature, Short

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
8 lines · 2 quatrains

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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
PoetryDBWitchcraft was hung, in History 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 27dd529470ab47ae
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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