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author stringclasses 20 values	book_title stringclasses 27 values	gutenberg_id int64 109 77k	poem_title stringlengths 2 73 ⌀	poem_text stringlengths 45 25.2k	line_count int64 4 491	word_count int64 7 3.68k
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	There came a day - at Summer's full -	Entirely for me - I thought that such were for the Saints - Where Resurrections - be - The sun - as common - went abroad - The flowers - accustomed - blew, As if no soul - that solstice passed - Which maketh all things - new - The time was scarce profaned - by speech - The falling of a word Was needless - as at Sacra...	27	180
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	From the handwriting, it is not always clear which are dashes, which are commas and which are periods, nor it is entirely clear which initial letters are capitalized. However, this transcription may be compared with the edited version in the main text to get a flavor of the changes made in these early editions. ...	7	55
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	This is my letter to the world, That never wrote to me, -- The simple news that Nature told, With tender majesty. Her message is committed To hands I cannot see; For love of her, sweet countrymen, Judge tenderly of me!	8	41
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	I. SUCCESS. [Published in "A Masque of Poets" at the request of "H.H.," the author's fellow-townswoman and friend.] Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple host Who took the flag to-day Can tell the definition, So cl...	17	71
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	II. Our share of night to bear, Our share of morning, Our blank in bliss to fill, Our blank in scorning. Here a star, and there a star, Some lose their way. Here a mist, and there a mist, Afterwards -- day!	9	42
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	III. ROUGE ET NOIR. Soul, wilt thou toss again? By just such a hazard Hundreds have lost, indeed, But tens have won an all. Angels' breathless ballot Lingers to record thee; Imps in eager caucus Raffle for my soul.	10	39
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	IV. ROUGE GAGNE. 'T is so much joy! 'T is so much joy! If I should fail, what poverty! And yet, as poor as I Have ventured all upon a throw; Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so This side the victory! Life is but life, and death but death! Bliss is but bliss, and breath but breath! And if, indeed, I fail, At l...	20	115
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	V. Glee! The great storm is over! Four have recovered the land; Forty gone down together Into the boiling sand. Ring, for the scant salvation! Toll, for the bonnie souls, -- Neighbor and friend and bridegroom, Spinning upon the shoals! How they will tell the shipwreck When winter shakes the door, Till the ch...	17	87
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VI. If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.	8	42
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VII. ALMOST! Within my reach! I could have touched! I might have chanced that way! Soft sauntered through the village, Sauntered as soft away! So unsuspected violets Within the fields lie low, Too late for striving fingers That passed, an hour ago.	11	42
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VIII. A wounded deer leaps highest, I've heard the hunter tell; 'T is but the ecstasy of death, And then the brake is still. The smitten rock that gushes, The trampled steel that springs; A cheek is always redder Just where the hectic stings! Mirth is the mail of anguish, In which it cautions arm, Lest anybo...	13	64
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	IX. The heart asks pleasure first, And then, excuse from pain; And then, those little anodynes That deaden suffering; And then, to go to sleep; And then, if it should be The will of its Inquisitor, The liberty to die.	9	40
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	X. IN A LIBRARY. A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is To meet an antique book, In just the dress his century wore; A privilege, I think, His venerable hand to take, And warming in our own, A passage back, or two, to make To times when he was young. His quaint opinions to inspect, His knowledge to unfold...	30	144
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XI. Much madness is divinest sense To a discerning eye; Much sense the starkest madness. 'T is the majority In this, as all, prevails. Assent, and you are sane; Demur, -- you're straightway dangerous, And handled with a chain.	9	39
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XII. I asked no other thing, No other was denied. I offered Being for it; The mighty merchant smiled. Brazil? He twirled a button, Without a glance my way: "But, madam, is there nothing else That we can show to-day?"	9	40
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIII. EXCLUSION. The soul selects her own society, Then shuts the door; On her divine majority Obtrude no more. Unmoved, she notes the chariot's pausing At her low gate; Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling Upon her mat. I've known her from an ample nation Choose one; Then close the valves of her attention ...	14	55
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIV. THE SECRET. Some things that fly there be, -- Birds, hours, the bumble-bee: Of these no elegy. Some things that stay there be, -- Grief, hills, eternity: Nor this behooveth me. There are, that resting, rise. Can I expound the skies? How still the riddle lies!	11	47
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XV. THE LONELY HOUSE. I know some lonely houses off the road A robber 'd like the look of, -- Wooden barred, And windows hanging low, Inviting to A portico, Where two could creep: One hand the tools, The other peep To make sure all's asleep. Old-fashioned eyes, Not easy to surprise! How orderly the kitchen...	42	174
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVI. To fight aloud is very brave, But gallanter, I know, Who charge within the bosom, The cavalry of woe. Who win, and nations do not see, Who fall, and none observe, Whose dying eyes no country Regards with patriot love. We trust, in plumed procession, For such the angels go, Rank after rank, with even fee...	13	61
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVII. DAWN. When night is almost done, And sunrise grows so near That we can touch the spaces, It 's time to smooth the hair And get the dimples ready, And wonder we could care For that old faded midnight That frightened but an hour.	10	45
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVIII. THE BOOK OF MARTYRS. Read, sweet, how others strove, Till we are stouter; What they renounced, Till we are less afraid; How many times they bore The faithful witness, Till we are helped, As if a kingdom cared! Read then of faith That shone above the fagot; Clear strains of hymn The river could not dr...	18	70
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIX. THE MYSTERY OF PAIN. Pain has an element of blank; It cannot recollect When it began, or if there were A day when it was not. It has no future but itself, Its infinite realms contain Its past, enlightened to perceive New periods of pain.	10	46
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XX. I taste a liquor never brewed, From tankards scooped in pearl; Not all the vats upon the Rhine Yield such an alcohol! Inebriate of air am I, And debauchee of dew, Reeling, through endless summer days, From inns of molten blue. When landlords turn the drunken bee Out of the foxglove's door, When butterfli...	17	84
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXI. A BOOK. He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was dust. He danced along the dingy days, And this bequest of wings Was but a book. What liberty A loosened spirit brings!	10	49
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXII. I had no time to hate, because The grave would hinder me, And life was not so ample I Could finish enmity. Nor had I time to love; but since Some industry must be, The little toil of love, I thought, Was large enough for me.	9	47
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXIII. UNRETURNING. 'T was such a little, little boat That toddled down the bay! 'T was such a gallant, gallant sea That beckoned it away! 'T was such a greedy, greedy wave That licked it from the coast; Nor ever guessed the stately sails My little craft was lost!	10	49
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXIV. Whether my bark went down at sea, Whether she met with gales, Whether to isles enchanted She bent her docile sails; By what mystic mooring She is held to-day, -- This is the errand of the eye Out upon the bay.	9	42
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXV. Belshazzar had a letter, -- He never had but one; Belshazzar's correspondent Concluded and begun In that immortal copy The conscience of us all Can read without its glasses On revelation's wall.	9	33
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXVI. The brain within its groove Runs evenly and true; But let a splinter swerve, 'T were easier for you To put the water back When floods have slit the hills, And scooped a turnpike for themselves, And blotted out the mills!	9	42
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	I. MINE. Mine by the right of the white election! Mine by the royal seal! Mine by the sign in the scarlet prison Bars cannot conceal! Mine, here in vision and in veto! Mine, by the grave's repeal Titled, confirmed, -- delirious charter! Mine, while the ages steal!	10	48
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	II. BEQUEST. You left me, sweet, two legacies, -- A legacy of love A Heavenly Father would content, Had He the offer of; You left me boundaries of pain Capacious as the sea, Between eternity and time, Your consciousness and me.	10	41
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	III. Alter? When the hills do. Falter? When the sun Question if his glory Be the perfect one. Surfeit? When the daffodil Doth of the dew: Even as herself, O friend! I will of you!	9	35
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	IV. SUSPENSE. Elysium is as far as to The very nearest room, If in that room a friend await Felicity or doom. What fortitude the soul contains, That it can so endure The accent of a coming foot, The opening of a door!	10	43
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	V. SURRENDER. Doubt me, my dim companion! Why, God would be content With but a fraction of the love Poured thee without a stint. The whole of me, forever, What more the woman can, -- Say quick, that I may dower thee With last delight I own! It cannot be my spirit, For that was thine before; I ceded all o...	19	89
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VI. If you were coming in the fall, I'd brush the summer by With half a smile and half a spurn, As housewives do a fly. If I could see you in a year, I'd wind the months in balls, And put them each in separate drawers, Until their time befalls. If only centuries delayed, I'd count them on my hand, Subtractin...	21	117
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VII. WITH A FLOWER. I hide myself within my flower, That wearing on your breast, You, unsuspecting, wear me too -- And angels know the rest. I hide myself within my flower, That, fading from your vase, You, unsuspecting, feel for me Almost a loneliness.	10	45
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VIII. PROOF. That I did always love, I bring thee proof: That till I loved I did not love enough. That I shall love alway, I offer thee That love is life, And life hath immortality. This, dost thou doubt, sweet? Then have I Nothing to show But Calvary.	14	49
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	IX. Have you got a brook in your little heart, Where bashful flowers blow, And blushing birds go down to drink, And shadows tremble so? And nobody knows, so still it flows, That any brook is there; And yet your little draught of life Is daily drunken there. Then look out for the little brook in March, When t...	17	98
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	X. TRANSPLANTED. As if some little Arctic flower, Upon the polar hem, Went wandering down the latitudes, Until it puzzled came To continents of summer, To firmaments of sun, To strange, bright crowds of flowers, And birds of foreign tongue! I say, as if this little flower To Eden wandered in -- What then? ...	14	60
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XI. THE OUTLET. My river runs to thee: Blue sea, wilt welcome me? My river waits reply. Oh sea, look graciously! I'll fetch thee brooks From spotted nooks, -- Say, sea, Take me!	10	33
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XII. IN VAIN. I cannot live with you, It would be life, And life is over there Behind the shelf The sexton keeps the key to, Putting up Our life, his porcelain, Like a cup Discarded of the housewife, Quaint or broken; A newer Sevres pleases, Old ones crack. I could not die with you, For one must wait...	53	209
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIII. RENUNCIATION. There came a day at summer's full Entirely for me; I thought that such were for the saints, Where revelations be. The sun, as common, went abroad, The flowers, accustomed, blew, As if no soul the solstice passed That maketh all things new. The time was scarce profaned by speech; The ...	30	155
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIV. LOVE'S BAPTISM. I'm ceded, I've stopped being theirs; The name they dropped upon my face With water, in the country church, Is finished using now, And they can put it with my dolls, My childhood, and the string of spools I've finished threading too. Baptized before without the choice, But this time c...	21	111
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XV. RESURRECTION. 'T was a long parting, but the time For interview had come; Before the judgment-seat of God, The last and second time These fleshless lovers met, A heaven in a gaze, A heaven of heavens, the privilege Of one another's eyes. No lifetime set on them, Apparelled as the new Unborn, except t...	18	77
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVI. APOCALYPSE. I'm wife; I've finished that, That other state; I'm Czar, I'm woman now: It's safer so. How odd the girl's life looks Behind this soft eclipse! I think that earth seems so To those in heaven now. This being comfort, then That other kind was pain; But why compare? I'm wife! stop there!	14	55
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVII. THE WIFE. She rose to his requirement, dropped The playthings of her life To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife. If aught she missed in her new day Of amplitude, or awe, Or first prospective, or the gold In using wore away, It lay unmentioned, as the sea Develops pearl and weed, But on...	14	66
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVIII. APOTHEOSIS. Come slowly, Eden! Lips unused to thee, Bashful, sip thy jasmines, As the fainting bee, Reaching late his flower, Round her chamber hums, Counts his nectars -- enters, And is lost in balms!	10	35
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	I. New feet within my garden go, New fingers stir the sod; A troubadour upon the elm Betrays the solitude. New children play upon the green, New weary sleep below; And still the pensive spring returns, And still the punctual snow!	9	41
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	II. MAY-FLOWER. Pink, small, and punctual, Aromatic, low, Covert in April, Candid in May, Dear to the moss, Known by the knoll, Next to the robin In every human soul. Bold little beauty, Bedecked with thee, Nature forswears Antiquity.	14	39
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	III. WHY? The murmur of a bee A witchcraft yieldeth me. If any ask me why, 'T were easier to die Than tell. The red upon the hill Taketh away my will; If anybody sneer, Take care, for God is here, That's all. The breaking of the day Addeth to my degree; If any ask me how, Artist, who drew me so, Mus...	17	64
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	IV. Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower? But I could never sell. If you would like to borrow Until the daffodil Unties her yellow bonnet Beneath the village door, Until the bees, from clover rows Their hock and sherry draw, Why, I will lend until just then, But not an hour more!	11	53
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	V. The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy.	5	18
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VI. A SERVICE OF SONG. Some keep the Sabbath going to church; I keep it staying at home, With a bobolink for a chorister, And an orchard for a dome. Some keep the Sabbath in surplice; I just wear my wings, And instead of tolling the bell for church, Our little sexton sings. God preaches, -- a noted clergy...	14	78
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VII. The bee is not afraid of me, I know the butterfly; The pretty people in the woods Receive me cordially. The brooks laugh louder when I come, The breezes madder play. Wherefore, mine eyes, thy silver mists? Wherefore, O summer's day?	9	42
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VIII. SUMMER'S ARMIES. Some rainbow coming from the fair! Some vision of the world Cashmere I confidently see! Or else a peacock's purple train, Feather by feather, on the plain Fritters itself away! The dreamy butterflies bestir, Lethargic pools resume the whir Of last year's sundered tune. From some old...	26	126
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	IX. THE GRASS. The grass so little has to do, -- A sphere of simple green, With only butterflies to brood, And bees to entertain, And stir all day to pretty tunes The breezes fetch along, And hold the sunshine in its lap And bow to everything; And thread the dews all night, like pearls, And make itself...	22	117
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	X. A little road not made of man, Enabled of the eye, Accessible to thill of bee, Or cart of butterfly. If town it have, beyond itself, 'T is that I cannot say; I only sigh, -- no vehicle Bears me along that way.	9	44
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XI. SUMMER SHOWER. A drop fell on the apple tree, Another on the roof; A half a dozen kissed the eaves, And made the gables laugh. A few went out to help the brook, That went to help the sea. Myself conjectured, Were they pearls, What necklaces could be! The dust replaced in hoisted roads, The birds jocos...	18	92
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XII. PSALM OF THE DAY. A something in a summer's day, As slow her flambeaux burn away, Which solemnizes me. A something in a summer's noon, -- An azure depth, a wordless tune, Transcending ecstasy. And still within a summer's night A something so transporting bright, I clap my hands to see; Then veil my ...	35	181
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIII. THE SEA OF SUNSET. This is the land the sunset washes, These are the banks of the Yellow Sea; Where it rose, or whither it rushes, These are the western mystery! Night after night her purple traffic Strews the landing with opal bales; Merchantmen poise upon horizons, Dip, and vanish with fairy sails.	10	54
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIV. PURPLE CLOVER. There is a flower that bees prefer, And butterflies desire; To gain the purple democrat The humming-birds aspire. And whatsoever insect pass, A honey bears away Proportioned to his several dearth And her capacity. Her face is rounder than the moon, And ruddier than the gown Of orchis ...	34	152
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XV. THE BEE. Like trains of cars on tracks of plush I hear the level bee: A jar across the flowers goes, Their velvet masonry Withstands until the sweet assault Their chivalry consumes, While he, victorious, tilts away To vanquish other blooms. His feet are shod with gauze, His helmet is of gold; His b...	18	80
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVI. Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn Indicative that suns go down; The notice to the startled grass That darkness is about to pass.	5	26
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVII. As children bid the guest good-night, And then reluctant turn, My flowers raise their pretty lips, Then put their nightgowns on. As children caper when they wake, Merry that it is morn, My flowers from a hundred cribs Will peep, and prance again.	9	44
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVIII. Angels in the early morning May be seen the dews among, Stooping, plucking, smiling, flying: Do the buds to them belong? Angels when the sun is hottest May be seen the sands among, Stooping, plucking, sighing, flying; Parched the flowers they bear along.	9	44
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIX. So bashful when I spied her, So pretty, so ashamed! So hidden in her leaflets, Lest anybody find; So breathless till I passed her, So helpless when I turned And bore her, struggling, blushing, Her simple haunts beyond! For whom I robbed the dingle, For whom betrayed the dell, Many will doubtless ask me,...	13	60
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XX. TWO WORLDS. It makes no difference abroad, The seasons fit the same, The mornings blossom into noons, And split their pods of flame. Wild-flowers kindle in the woods, The brooks brag all the day; No blackbird bates his jargoning For passing Calvary. Auto-da-fe and judgment Are nothing to the bee; Hi...	14	60
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXI. THE MOUNTAIN. The mountain sat upon the plain In his eternal chair, His observation omnifold, His inquest everywhere. The seasons prayed around his knees, Like children round a sire: Grandfather of the days is he, Of dawn the ancestor.	10	40
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXII. A DAY. I'll tell you how the sun rose, -- A ribbon at a time. The steeples swam in amethyst, The news like squirrels ran. The hills untied their bonnets, The bobolinks begun. Then I said softly to myself, "That must have been the sun!" * * * But how he set, I know not. There seemed a...	19	94
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXIII. The butterfly's assumption-gown, In chrysoprase apartments hung, This afternoon put on.	4	12
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXIV. THE WIND. Of all the sounds despatched abroad, There's not a charge to me Like that old measure in the boughs, That phraseless melody The wind does, working like a hand Whose fingers brush the sky, Then quiver down, with tufts of tune Permitted gods and me. When winds go round and round in bands...	23	114
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXV. DEATH AND LIFE. Apparently with no surprise To any happy flower, The frost beheads it at its play In accidental power. The blond assassin passes on, The sun proceeds unmoved To measure off another day For an approving God.	10	40
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXVI. 'T was later when the summer went Than when the cricket came, And yet we knew that gentle clock Meant nought but going home. 'T was sooner when the cricket went Than when the winter came, Yet that pathetic pendulum Keeps esoteric time.	9	44
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXVII. INDIAN SUMMER. These are the days when birds come back, A very few, a bird or two, To take a backward look. These are the days when skies put on The old, old sophistries of June, -- A blue and gold mistake. Oh, fraud that cannot cheat the bee, Almost thy plausibility Induces my belief, Till rank...	20	103
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXVIII. AUTUMN. The morns are meeker than they were, The nuts are getting brown; The berry's cheek is plumper, The rose is out of town. The maple wears a gayer scarf, The field a scarlet gown. Lest I should be old-fashioned, I'll put a trinket on.	10	46
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXIX. BECLOUDED. The sky is low, the clouds are mean, A travelling flake of snow Across a barn or through a rut Debates if it will go. A narrow wind complains all day How some one treated him; Nature, like us, is sometimes caught Without her diadem.	10	47
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXX. THE HEMLOCK. I think the hemlock likes to stand Upon a marge of snow; It suits his own austerity, And satisfies an awe That men must slake in wilderness, Or in the desert cloy, -- An instinct for the hoar, the bald, Lapland's necessity. The hemlock's nature thrives on cold; The gnash of northern wi...	18	84
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXXI. There's a certain slant of light, On winter afternoons, That oppresses, like the weight Of cathedral tunes. Heavenly hurt it gives us; We can find no scar, But internal difference Where the meanings are. None may teach it anything, ' T is the seal, despair, -- An imperial affliction Sent us of the air....	17	78
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	I. One dignity delays for all, One mitred afternoon. None can avoid this purple, None evade this crown. Coach it insures, and footmen, Chamber and state and throng; Bells, also, in the village, As we ride grand along. What dignified attendants, What service when we pause! How loyally at parting Their hundred...	17	74
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	II. TOO LATE. Delayed till she had ceased to know, Delayed till in its vest of snow Her loving bosom lay. An hour behind the fleeting breath, Later by just an hour than death, -- Oh, lagging yesterday! Could she have guessed that it would be; Could but a crier of the glee Have climbed the dista...	20	109
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	III. ASTRA CASTRA. Departed to the judgment, A mighty afternoon; Great clouds like ushers leaning, Creation looking on. The flesh surrendered, cancelled, The bodiless begun; Two worlds, like audiences, disperse And leave the soul alone.	10	35
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	IV. Safe in their alabaster chambers, Untouched by morning and untouched by noon, Sleep the meek members of the resurrection, Rafter of satin, and roof of stone. Light laughs the breeze in her castle of sunshine; Babbles the bee in a stolid ear; Pipe the sweet birds in ignorant cadence, -- Ah, what sagacity p...	13	85
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	V. On this long storm the rainbow rose, On this late morn the sun; The clouds, like listless elephants, Horizons straggled down. The birds rose smiling in their nests, The gales indeed were done; Alas! how heedless were the eyes On whom the summer shone! The quiet nonchalance of death No daybreak can bestir;...	13	61
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VI. FROM THE CHRYSALIS. My cocoon tightens, colors tease, I'm feeling for the air; A dim capacity for wings Degrades the dress I wear. A power of butterfly must be The aptitude to fly, Meadows of majesty concedes And easy sweeps of sky. So I must baffle at the hint And cipher at the sign, And make much blu...	14	67
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VII. SETTING SAIL. Exultation is the going Of an inland soul to sea, -- Past the houses, past the headlands, Into deep eternity! Bred as we, among the mountains, Can the sailor understand The divine intoxication Of the first league out from land?	10	43
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	VIII. Look back on time with kindly eyes, He doubtless did his best; How softly sinks his trembling sun In human nature's west!	5	23
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	IX. A train went through a burial gate, A bird broke forth and sang, And trilled, and quivered, and shook his throat Till all the churchyard rang; And then adjusted his little notes, And bowed and sang again. Doubtless, he thought it meet of him To say good-by to men.	9	50
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	X. I died for beauty, but was scarce Adjusted in the tomb, When one who died for truth was lain In an adjoining room. He questioned softly why I failed? "For beauty," I replied. "And I for truth, -- the two are one; We brethren are," he said. And so, as kinsmen met a night, We talked between the rooms, Until...	13	72
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XI. "TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS." How many times these low feet staggered, Only the soldered mouth can tell; Try! can you stir the awful rivet? Try! can you lift the hasps of steel? Stroke the cool forehead, hot so often, Lift, if you can, the listless hair; Handle the adamantine fingers Never a thimble mor...	14	86
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XII. REAL. I like a look of agony, Because I know it 's true; Men do not sham convulsion, Nor simulate a throe. The eyes glaze once, and that is death. Impossible to feign The beads upon the forehead By homely anguish strung.	10	43
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIII. THE FUNERAL. That short, potential stir That each can make but once, That bustle so illustrious 'T is almost consequence, Is the eclat of death. Oh, thou unknown renown That not a beggar would accept, Had he the power to spurn!	10	42
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIV. I went to thank her, But she slept; Her bed a funnelled stone, With nosegays at the head and foot, That travellers had thrown, Who went to thank her; But she slept. 'T was short to cross the sea To look upon her like, alive, But turning back 't was slow.	11	52
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XV. I've seen a dying eye Run round and round a room In search of something, as it seemed, Then cloudier become; And then, obscure with fog, And then be soldered down, Without disclosing what it be, 'T were blessed to have seen.	9	43
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVI. REFUGE. The clouds their backs together laid, The north begun to push, The forests galloped till they fell, The lightning skipped like mice; The thunder crumbled like a stuff -- How good to be safe in tombs, Where nature's temper cannot reach, Nor vengeance ever comes!	10	47
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVII. I never saw a moor, I never saw the sea; Yet know I how the heather looks, And what a wave must be. I never spoke with God, Nor visited in heaven; Yet certain am I of the spot As if the chart were given.	9	46
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XVIII. PLAYMATES. God permits industrious angels Afternoons to play. I met one, -- forgot my school-mates, All, for him, straightway. God calls home the angels promptly At the setting sun; I missed mine. How dreary marbles, After playing Crown!	10	39
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XIX. To know just how he suffered would be dear; To know if any human eyes were near To whom he could intrust his wavering gaze, Until it settled firm on Paradise. To know if he was patient, part content, Was dying as he thought, or different; Was it a pleasant day to die, And did the sunshine face his way? ...	27	159
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XX. The last night that she lived, It was a common night, Except the dying; this to us Made nature different. We noticed smallest things, -- Things overlooked before, By this great light upon our minds Italicized, as 't were. That others could exist While she must finish quite, A jealousy for her arose So ne...	25	119
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXI. THE FIRST LESSON. Not in this world to see his face Sounds long, until I read the place Where this is said to be But just the primer to a life Unopened, rare, upon the shelf, Clasped yet to him and me. And yet, my primer suits me so I would not choose a book to know Than that, be sweeter wise; Might s...	14	83
Emily Dickinson	Poems, Series One	2,678	null	XXII. The bustle in a house The morning after death Is solemnest of industries Enacted upon earth, -- The sweeping up the heart, And putting love away We shall not want to use again Until eternity.	9	36

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Poetry Greats

Curated, poem-level extracts from Project Gutenberg for 20 canonical English-language poets. All source texts are public domain in the US (pre-1929 publication). Intended as a reference set of "gold" examples for evaluation, few-shot prompting, and stylometric study.

4,090 poems across 29 books and 20 poets:

Poet	Poems
Samuel Taylor Coleridge	913
H. W. Longfellow	616
Christina Rossetti	459
Emily Dickinson	446
Percy Bysshe Shelley	360
Walt Whitman	282
Sara Teasdale	174
Thomas Hardy	142
William Blake	97
W. B. Yeats	94
Edwin Arlington Robinson	82
Robert Browning	75
Gerard Manley Hopkins	74
William Wordsworth	53
Edgar Allan Poe	49
Robert Frost	48
Elizabeth Barrett Browning	45
Alfred Tennyson	32
Edna St. Vincent Millay	27
John Keats	22

Schema

Column	Type	Description
`author`	string	Poet name
`book_title`	string	Source collection
`gutenberg_id`	int	Project Gutenberg book ID
`poem_title`	string \| null	Extracted title, or null if not inferred
`poem_text`	string	Poem body, preserving line breaks
`line_count`	int	Non-blank line count
`word_count`	int	Word count

Source books

All public domain (pre-1929 US publication). Direct links:

Dickinson -- Poems Series One, Two, Three
Whitman -- Leaves of Grass
Keats -- Poems Published in 1820
Shelley -- Complete Poetical Works
Blake -- Poems of William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Wordsworth -- Lyrical Ballads 1798
Coleridge -- Complete Poetical Works
Tennyson -- Maud and Other Poems
Robert Browning -- Browning's Shorter Poems
Elizabeth Barrett Browning -- Sonnets from the Portuguese
Christina Rossetti -- Poems, Goblin Market and Other Poems
Hopkins -- Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Hardy -- Wessex Poems and Other Verses, Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses
Yeats -- Responsibilities and Other Poems, In the Seven Woods, The Green Helmet and Other Poems
Frost -- A Boy's Will, North of Boston
Poe -- Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Longfellow -- Complete Poetical Works
Robinson -- The Children of the Night
Teasdale -- Love Songs, Flame and Shadow
Millay -- Renascence and Other Poems

Parsing notes

Poems were extracted by a heuristic parser that splits each book on triple blank lines, drops Gutenberg front/back matter, and filters each block through a verse-detector (median line length < 60 chars, max < 120, low run-on rate). Some long sequences -- especially Coleridge's Complete Poetical Works and Longfellow's Complete Poetical Works -- include fragments, variants, and short juvenilia in addition to canonical works. Titles are extracted when the first line of a block looks title-like; otherwise the poem_title field is null.

License

CC0 1.0 Universal -- all source texts are public domain. The parsing and curation are also released under CC0.

Citation

Source texts courtesy of Project Gutenberg. Parsing and curation by Yoonho Lee.

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