My Faith Is Larger Than the Hills --

16 lines

Emily Dickinson·1830–1886·Lyric·American lyric poetry

✦

Summary Meaning

The poem presents faith as an immaterial force that surpasses physical decay, using the image of hills eroding to signify the transience of earthly structures. The speaker's faith is so vast that it must assume an astronomical role, guiding the sun via a "purple wheel" which fuses regal and cosmic symbolism. Philosophically, the work aligns with a transcendentalist or idealist view where the soul's conviction outlasts and reorders natural phenomena. The tone is declarative and serene, replacing theological doubt with an assured, almost prophetic vision of immortality and cyclical renewal.

y Faith is larger than the Hills --

So when the Hills decay --

My Faith must take the Purple Wheel

To show the Sun the way --

'Tis first He steps upon the Vane --

And then -- upon the Hill --

And then abroad the World He go

To do His Golden Will --

And if His Yellow feet should miss --

The Bird would not arise --

The Flowers would slumber on their Stems --

No Bells have Paradise --

How dare I, therefore, stint a faith

On which so vast depends --

Lest Firmament should fail for me --

The Rivet in the Bands

✦