Poems of Emily Dickinson Selected

Poems of Emily
Dickinson
(Selected)
Study Guide by Course Hero
cover a wide variety of subjects, it is her unique style that gives

What's Inside her work coherence. Offering a representative sample of
Dickinson's output, the 24 poems presented here appear in the
same order as they do in Harvard professor Thomas H.
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 Johnson's The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, first
published in 1955.
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 4
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 5 d In Context

c Poem Summaries ..................................................................................... 9
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 22 New England Roots

l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 24
Experts agree her New England roots shaped Emily Dickinson.
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 25 Dickinson's family had lived in New England since 1630, when
one of her Puritan forebears (English Protestants who left
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 26 England for the Americas in search of religious freedom) sailed
from England. In 1659 one of her ancestors moved west to the
Connecticut River Valley to found the town of Northampton. A
century later her great grandfather settled in what became
j Book Basics Amherst, Massachusetts, where her grandfather, Samuel
Fowler Dickinson, was born and lived for years. The first
AUTHOR member of the family to go to college, he became a lawyer and
Emily Dickinson helped found Amherst College. Although he left Amherst, Emily
Dickinson and her family remained. Because her father,
YEARS WRITTEN Edward Dickinson, was a prominent member of the community,
1858–73 many people came to the Dickinson home, where Emily was
expected to entertain visitors.
GENRE
Nature, Philosophy Shaped by Puritan values —thrift, practicality, hard work,
education, and simplicity—Amherst was Emily Dickinson's
AT A GLANCE
world, her own house and garden at its center. In addition to
This collection analyzes some of the best-known poems of
her outdoor garden, she grew plants year-round in a
Emily Dickinson, generally recognized as a significant
conservatory her father had added to their house. Dickinson
American poet of the 19th century. She wrote nearly 1,800
thrived artistically in this environment. Her poetry frequently
poems, recognized for their brilliance, originality, and
concerns the cultivation of plant life in her garden, the natural
uncompromising truth. Only 10 were published during her
surroundings, and town events, including the deaths of
lifetime, two of which appear in this collection. As her poems
townspeople. She lived near the town cemetery and saw
Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide In Context 2
friends and neighbors buried there. The experience of death Society—", she examined the way human beings can develop
caused her considerable grief, leading her to question the idea deep and singular attachments to others. And she used the
of a merciful God and pushing her to question the personal certainty of the beliefs of the people around her to challenge
relationship many people close to her felt toward religion. her own. In "Much Madness is divinest Sense—", for example,
While most people in her day believed in the possibility of life she postulates that what people commonly take as common
after death, she starkly resisted this idea in poems such as "I sense is foolish, while unusual opinions can be deeply wise.
heard a Fly buzz—when I died—," "She died—this was the way
she died," and "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain." In all of these During Dickinson's years in Amherst, the town and its
poems, the end of life represents the end of human surrounding area went through a period known as the Second
consciousness, not the reunion with God her friends and family Great Awakening (1790–1820), when evangelists urged people
believed in. to publicly declare their allegiance to God. At least eight

separate waves of religious revivals took place during the
poet's lifetime, and both friends and family members converted
Faith at these events. Dickinson, too, felt considerable social

pressure to follow suit, but self-examination never led her to
strong feelings of religious faith. She could not make a public
Much of Dickinson's life was shaped by her relationship
statement of her faith and be honest about it. So she remained
to—and reaction against—her Protestant upbringing. Like most
silent, much to the annoyance, and even distress, of her
families in Amherst, the Dickinsons belonged to the First
evangelized father and others around her. Without making a
Congregational Church, based on Calvinist principles. John
public confession of her faith, she could not take communion in
Calvin (1509–64) and his followers stressed simplicity and
her church and eventually stopped going altogether.
opposed praying to the saints or the Virgin Mary and having
icons in church—and many considered musical instruments
idolatrous. Calvinist churches offered to worshipers a radical
simplicity and lack of distraction, focusing on the Bible as the Poetic Form and Meter
sole source of the authority of God's word. In addition they
stressed the idea of a personal, individual relationship with Dickinson's religious education is credited as the source of the
God, with no intervention from anyone else. To foster that distinctive meter (pattern of rhythm) of her poetry. Many
relationship, ministers encouraged people to examine their English poets, including Elizabeth Barrett Browning and William
souls for sin scrupulously and regularly. According to Calvinist Wordsworth, whose work Dickinson knew, typically wrote in
theology, only a portion of those who gave their souls to Jesus iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter consists of five two-
Christ would be saved by him—these were called the syllable units, or iambic feet, each of which contains one
elect—but all people needed to prepare their hearts and minds unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. So a line of
for the possibility of salvation through constant self-evaluation iambic pentameter contains 10 syllables with alternating
and a sincere conversion experience, even though they might unstressed and stressed syllables resulting in five beats.
not be predestined for it. Dickinson, however, most frequently wrote her poems using
ballad meter: lines of iambic tetrameter (four iambic feet, or
Like most members of the Amherst First Congregational eight syllables), alternating with lines of iambic trimeter (three
Church, the Dickinsons attended regularly and held daily iambic feet, or six syllables) in four-line stanzas (groups of
religious services in their home. The heightened religious lines). Ballad meter is a variation of common meter, the basis of
atmosphere around Dickinson provided both a gift and a most hymns in The Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (1859),
challenge. On the one hand her poetry shows a strong Massachusetts pastor Samuel Worcester's edition of English
unwillingness to believe in things unseen, such as the concept Christian minister Isaac Watts's hymns, which Dickinson heard
of heaven and the mercy of God. Further she embodies the in church as she was growing up. Moreover, as an
essence of simplicity in her unornamented, direct style of accomplished pianist she may well have played hymns on the
writing. Dickinson used her religion's tradition of self- piano for visitors or for her own pleasure. Thus many of her
examination to ask thoughtful questions that led to deep poems, such as "Success is counted sweetest" and "Two
insights about her inner world. In "The Soul selects her own swimmers wrestled on the spar—," can be sung to the tune of
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Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide In Context 3
"The Yellow Rose of Texas," or indeed that of traditional passionately desires her lover in "Wild Nights—Wild nights!" is a
hymns, such as "Amazing Grace." very different individual from the I carried off by death in
"Because I could not stop for Death—."
Hymn meter, also known as common meter, consists of
alternating lines of four iambic feet and three iambic feet in
four-line stanzas. In other words a typical four-line stanza has a
syllable count of 8-6-8-6, with the eight-syllable lines (the lines
in iambic tetrameter) rhyming with each other, and the six- Publication
syllable lines (the lines in iambic trimeter) rhyming with each
other. It would probably be more accurate, however, to say During Dickinson's lifetime only 10 of her poems were
Dickinson typically wrote in ballad meter, which is metrically published—anonymously and without her permission. Most had
less strict and in which only the second and fourth lines—those changes such as altered punctuation to fit conventional ideas.
in iambic trimeter—of each stanza rhyme. However, at the
After her sister's death, Lavinia Dickinson found a stockpile of
same time as she embraced the form of common meter, giving
Emily's poems in a drawer and decided they should be
her poetry a terseness far greater than that of the English
published. She gave them to Susan Gilbert, Austin Dickinson's
poets she admired, she also subverted it, often using fewer or
wife, to edit, but after two years she had made little progress.
more syllables than strict common meter allows.
Lavinia then gave them to Mabel Loomis Todd, an energetic
There has been much speculation about Dickinson's woman and Austin's mistress, to edit. From 1888–89 Todd
idiosyncratic use of dashes. Sometimes she uses dashes as spent many hours transcribing Dickinson's difficult handwriting
pauses, like other punctuation. But since she uses dashes and typing hundreds of poems. She selected 116 for
along with other punctuation it's hard to assign any consistent publication; put them into categories such as nature, life, love,
meaning to the use of a dash in this way. At other times a dash and time and eternity; and edited them with the help of Thomas
may seem to connect two words, seem to stand in for a word Wentworth Higginson. Many critics have taken issue with the
left out, or might seem to indicate emotional intensity. aggressive editing—added titles; changed punctuation, spelling,
However, since her use of dashes is so inconsistent it's hard to and sometimes words; and added line breaks. Meanwhile
be sure what her dashes signify. Dickinson also tended to Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote an introduction telling the
capitalize some common nouns in a way a reader might story of the mysterious Amherst woman and used his contacts
assume is meant to indicate emphasis. But again, because she to find a publisher. The first book of Dickinson's poetry
did so inconsistently and sometimes erratically, it's hard to appeared late in 1890 and sold out immediately.
assign any definite meaning to her use of capitalization.
Emily Dickinson's poetry became quite popular, but for a long
Dickinson was an original poet in other ways as well. She used time it was underestimated, seen as more appropriate for
a number of different kinds of rhyme considered unharmonious common folk and children than for people of taste. But
in her day though perfectly comfortable to modern readers. eventually well-known American poets, such as Allen Tate
Most notable is her use of "slant rhyme," or half rhyme, in which (1899–1979) and Hart Crane (1899–1932), read her work with
the words are similar but the rhyming syllables don't sound fresh eyes and began to champion her writing for its
exactly the same, such as teen and tone; grape and great; man sophistication and subtlety. Later American poets such as
and ten. Elizabeth Bishop (1911–79) added their voices to her defense.
As more scholars began to study her work, she gained
Another feature of Dickinson's poetry is the identity of the recognition as a truly original American voice.
speaker. As lyric poetry, Dickinson's works typically reveal the
emotional state of a single speaker, and many poems are With this recognition came new scholarship. Finally in 1955,
written from the point of view of an I. But like speakers in most professor Thomas H. Johnson, using the first fair copy (a neat
poetry, the I is not necessarily the poet. As she explained in a and exact copy of a corrected draft) of Dickinson's poems,
letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, "When I state myself, published a new version of her complete works, ignoring
as the Representative of the Verse—it does not Higginson's and Todd's questionable edits. He restored
mean—me—but a supposed person." So, for example, the I who Dickinson's line breaks, dashes, original words, and original

Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide Author Biography 4
spellings. Instead of titles, he attempted to number the poems atmosphere at the school.
in chronological order. Then in 1998 scholar R.W. Franklin
published a new edition, The Poems of Emily Dickinson, using
the last fair copy of her poems and a different numbering An Unusual Life
system based on his understanding of the dates. Both systems
are used today. After completing her formal education in 1848, she returned to
Amherst and spent her days paying social visits and doing
work in her home, including baking and gardening. But she
a Author Biography started to become socially withdrawn in her early 20s. She
made few trips outside of Amherst but did visit Washington,
D.C., in 1855, and in 1864 she stayed in Boston for seven to
eight months to take care of an eye affliction. Instead of in-
Early Years person contacts, she became a prodigious letter writer during
this time; experts now believe she wrote approximately 10,000
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst, letters during her life, of which about 1,000 remain. Most of the
Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830. Her parents, Edward surviving letters were sent to approximately 100 different
and Emily Norcross Dickinson, were well educated. Edward people. The letters often reveal brilliant insights, and many
Dickinson was a successful lawyer who provided a contain poems. One of her most important correspondents
comfortable living for his family, which included Emily's older was the American writer Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who
brother, William Austin (called Austin), and younger sister, became her friend and, after her death, one of her editors.
Lavinia. The three siblings had very different temperaments but
were close and loyal to one another for much of their lives. Much speculation exists about Dickinson's life and why she
chose to live as she did. Although no one knows for sure, some
Emily Dickinson's relationship with her mother was distant, but have speculated she had serious health problems. In Lives Like
she admired her father, a formidable and capable man. In Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds (2010),
addition to his law practice, which allowed his daughters to live South African author Lyndall Gordon suggests Dickinson might
well without having to marry and allowed his son to design a have had epilepsy, a condition considered hereditary, which in
home—the Evergreens—next door, Edward Dickinson also those days would have made her unmarriageable. Her brother
served as treasurer of Amherst College and held several Austin indicated she was highly sensitive, and "as she saw
political offices in Massachusetts. Most notably, he served as a more and more of society ... she could not resist the feeling
member of the United States House of Representatives from that it was painfully hollow."
1853–55.
According to legend, Emily Dickinson always wore white
As a child Emily Dickinson was cheerful and sociable, with clothing following her father's death. One observer wrote, "I
many friends both male and female. When she was 10 she must tell you about the character of Amherst. It is a lady whom
entered Amherst Academy, where she received an unusually the people call the Myth ... She has not been outside of her
thorough education for a girl of her era, studying Latin and own home for fifteen years . . . She dresses wholly in white, &
Greek, composition, and the sciences, including geology and her mind is said to be perfectly wonderful." Despite local lore
botany. As part of her studies she collected plants for a surrounding Dickinson, it is unclear whether she actually wore
"herbarium" and labeled them by their Latin names. Her white exclusively. If she did wear it frequently, however,
herbarium, which eventually filled 66 pages and contained 424 practical reasons could explain her choice. White was easy to
different species, served as the foundation for her lifelong love care for, as it could be bleached.
of gardening and the deep understanding of nature that
informs her poetry. When she completed her studies at
Amherst Academy, she attended Mount Holyoke Female
Seminary, from 1847–48. Although she was expected to
Dickinson's Writing
remain for a two-year course, she left early because of
Dickinson's most intense period of creativity took place
homesickness, ill health, and discomfort with the evangelical

Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide Plot Summary 5
between 1858–64, starting when she was in her late 20s. She reader to tally up the vast amount of things she's bringing,
wrote poems on torn envelopes, scraps of paper, and old including the bees in the clover.
recipe cards. Also she carefully rewrote her poems in neater
script than her standard handwriting and sewed them together
in small bundles, called fascicles. She made more than 40 Heart! We will forget him!
fascicles from a total of 800 poems during this time. By the
age of 35 she had written more than 1,100 poems and The speaker addresses her heart, proposing she and her heart
continued writing for the rest of her life. Burdened by caring for forget an unnamed "him," presumably a male object of
others, however, and by her own illnesses, she wrote at a much romantic love. She will forget the light, while her heart must
slower pace in later years. forget his warmth. The speaker's heart must first forget him
before the speaker can and urges the heart to tell her
Although shy about publication—only 10 poems were published
immediately when it is done, for she remains in danger of
in her lifetime, most without her permission—she cared to know
remembering him.
that her poetry had meaning to others, and she shared her
work with friends and correspondents. She shared 276 poems
with her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert Dickinson, for example,
and another 100 poems with her friend and posthumous editor
Success is counted sweetest
Thomas Wentworth Higginson.
Success is most appreciated and best understood by those
who have failed. In the second stanza the speaker introduces
the analogy of war to suggest victors in battle cannot
Later Years, Death, and Legacy understand the notion of success as well as those who have
been defeated. Dying on the battlefield, the defeated soldier
In later life she became more reclusive as more sorrows
hears the sounds of triumph denied to those who have lost the
assailed her, beginning with her father's death in 1874. After he
battle.
died Dickinson and her sister Lavinia nursed their sickly
mother, with whom they had never been close before her
illness, until her death in 1882. At this time Dickinson was
further saddened by a family fight caused by her brother's
She died—this was the way she
extramarital affair with Mabel Loomis Todd, a local woman. But
the most devastating loss to her was the death of her eight-
died
year-old nephew, Gilbert, her brother's son.
The speaker describes a woman's death. After she stops
Emily Dickinson, too, would be overcome by illness. On May 15, breathing, she takes her things and heads for the sun. She
1886, she died of what her doctor diagnosed as Bright's arrives at a gate, a portal between mortality and immortality,
disease (kidney inflammation) but which some modern doctors from which she vanishes. The speaker presumes angels must
suspect might actually have been hypertension or high blood have come and brought her into heaven.
pressure.
"Faith" is a fine invention

k Plot Summary The speaker asserts faith is acceptable as long as one can rely
on the evidence gathered by one's senses. However, when one
cannot, it is better to rely on science when it matters most.
It's all I have to bring today—
Using understatement, the speaker says all she has to bring to
the reader is the poem and her heart. She then adds she's
bringing all the fields and meadows as well. She urges the

Two swimmers wrestled on the There's a certain Slant of light,

spar— The poem describes winter afternoon light as oppressive and
heavy and suggests it causes internal feelings of melancholy.
Two swimmers are wrestling or struggling in the ocean on a There is nothing to be learned from it but despair. When the
spar (ship's beam), floating on the waves. After a long night, afternoon light comes it creates shadows, and then when it
one swims toward land and is safe. However, the other dies. departs (that is, when darkness comes) it becomes
Ships pass by his body, floating with face upturned, eyes unreachably distant.
pleading, and hands thrown up in a gesture of begging.
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

I taste a liquor never brewed—
This poem describes the process of a mental breakdown or
Using the language and imagery of intemperate drinking, possibly a fainting spell in the form of a deceased person
Dickinson describes the effect of nature on the speaker, who describing her own funeral. At the beginning the speaker
becomes intoxicated by its beauty. Drunk on the air, dew, and seems to hear the solemn steps of mourners, whose treading
blue of the skies, the speaker vows to continue imbibing even is then replaced by the beating sound of a funeral service. She
after fellow revelers in nature—bees and butterflies—cease then hears the creaking of a coffin being carried and then the
their drinking. Her quest for the beauty of nature will not stop overwhelming tolling of a bell, at which point the speaker
until she reaches the sun, an event that will draw the attention seems to diminish to but an ear hearing this sound, which is
even of lofty seraphs and saints in heaven. then replaced by silence. Finally reason breaks down, after
which point she ceases to be conscious of anything.
Wild nights—Wild nights!

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
In this poem to an absent lover, the speaker reveals if she were
with him, they would enjoy wild nights together. She compares The speaker announces she is "Nobody," and then, having
her desire to be with her lover with fruitless rowing on a windy ascertained her silent interlocutor is another "Nobody," she
sea when a compass and charts are useless. Her heart is in admonishes the "Nobody" not to "tell" they are two nobodies,
port, and she longs to moor for the night. If she were with him for they might be noticed for being as they are. She is glad not
tonight she would be in paradise. to be a Somebody, finding such "public" status distasteful
because one constantly must reveal oneself to others.
"Hope" is the thing with

The Soul selects her own
feathers—
Society—
Hope, characterized as a bird, sits delicately inside a person
and cheers or charms the individual's soul. Hope is sweetest The speaker describes the way one ("the Soul") chooses
when things are most desperate, and it survives in the worst of friends or companions, selecting those with whom she will
circumstances. The speaker says she has had hope in the associate and then shutting herself off from everyone else. No
most difficult situations, always there for her and never asking matter how grand or important any subsequent visitor might
for anything in return. be, she will be unmoved. The speaker has known the soul to
choose just one companion and then firmly close off her
attention to others.

A Bird, came down the Walk— died—

In this narrative of the speaker's encounter with a bird, she This poem, narrated from the perspective of a deceased
sees him first bite a worm in halves before eating it, drink dew person, describes the person dying in the presence of others.
from a blade of grass, and then allow a beetle to walk by The friends and loved ones at the deathbed have wept their
unharmed. The bird's eyes then glance around and the speaker tears and, in the silence, anticipate the moment God will
offers him a crumb, prompting him to take off flying, which the appear to the dying person. The speaker mentions she willed
speaker describes as being smooth and utterly graceful. away her earthly possessions, and then, just at the moment
when one might expect the dying person to say something
profound and significant, a fly buzzes and distracts the dying
After great pain, a formal person from the "light" one is thought to see at death. The
dying person's vision fails, and she is prevented from gaining
feeling comes— any deep spiritual awareness.
After one experiences a great pain or loss, the nerves are still,
the heart wonders what has just happened, the feet continue The Brain—is wider than the
to walk mechanically unaware of what they're treading on, and
the body becomes heavy and leaden. The whole experience, if Sky—
one survives it, is remembered in stages, the way freezing
people remember the snow. In the first stanza, the speaker asserts the brain is wider than
the sky because it can hold within itself all of the seemingly
limitless sky and still have room for the reader. In the second
Much Madness is divinest stanza, the speaker says the brain is deeper than the sea
because it can absorb all that the sea contains. In the third
Sense— stanza the speaker maintains the brain's weight is just about
equal to that of God, and if there is any difference it is
Much of what people take to be madness, or insanity, is minuscule.
actually sensible, and vice versa: it all depends on what the
majority believes. If one agrees with prevailing thought, one is
considered sane. However, if one disagrees, one may be I dwell in Possibility—
considered crazy, even dangerous.
Dickinson uses an elaborate architectural conceit to explain
her idea of poetry. The speaker dwells in a house she calls
This is my letter to the World "Possibility," by which she means poetry. Poetry, she asserts, is
more beautiful than prose, has more ways of viewing and
The speaker addresses all who would be her readers and engaging with the world, is built of superior materials, and has
explains her letter to the world is the "News that Nature told." limitless potential. In her house of poetry she receives "the
In other words she is conveying the message of nature to fairest" visitors, and all she has to do is spread her hands to
readers unknown, and she asks those readers to judge her gather paradise.
kindly for her message.
Because I could not stop for

I heard a Fly buzz—when I

journeys. She begins by asserting there is no ship better than a

Death— book to take readers to distant lands, nor are there any horses
that can match a page of poetry. Even people with no money
The speaker recounts a metaphorical journey accompanied by may be thus transported without having to pay huge sums.
Death, personified as a gentleman who picks the speaker up in Literature, she asserts, is an economical way to travel.
a carriage. She puts aside her work and her leisure, and they
begin to drive slowly, passing by children at school and fields
of grain. When they pass the setting sun, they seem to come to
a halt. The speaker becomes aware of feeling cold and then
comes upon a grave. By the end of the poem she realizes what
had first seemed an unthreatening carriage ride has brought
her to an eternal state of nonbeing.
My Life had stood—a Loaded

Gun—
The speaker compares herself to a loaded gun, sitting
passively until the owner identifies it as his own and carries it
away. They hunt in the woods, and the gun, when shot, speaks
for its master, emitting a flash of light the speaker compares to
the eruption of a volcano. The gun guards its master's head at
night and kills his foes. In the final stanza the gun says that
although it may live longer than its master, the master must
outlive the gun, because although the gun can kill it cannot die.
Tell all the Truth but tell it

slant—
This didactic poem teaches a simple lesson: one must tell all
the truth, but one must tell it indirectly because being a little
circuitous will be more successful. The surprise of truth can be
too bright or too startling, for human comprehension is
sometimes weak. Just as adults gently explain the
phenomenon of lightning to easily frightened children, the truth
of things must be conveyed gradually, for to do so suddenly
would be too much for people to take all at once: they would
be blinded by the light of truth.
There is no Frigate like a Book

Using metaphors of travel and transportation, the speaker
praises the power of literature to take readers on grand mental

Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide Poem Summaries 9
to be sure to "count" because she may forget to do so. In line 6

c Poem Summaries the use of internal rhyme, in the form of homophones,
increases the significance of the word sum. But the reader
comes to realize the verbal irony, for what is to be counted is
It's all I have to bring today— uncountable: all the fields, all the meadows, all the bees in the
clover, not to mention her heart and this poem. In Dickinson's
poetry the image of bees often suggests the irrepressible
fecundity of nature. The uses of the word all in the third, fourth,
Summary and seventh lines serve to create a sense of the immensity of
what she is bringing. Who indeed could "tell" (count) such a
The speaker says all she has to bring to the reader are the
"sum"?
poem and her heart but then adds she's bringing the fields and
meadows as well. She urges the reader to tally up all she's In many poems Dickinson portrays nature as her heaven on
bringing, including the bees in the clover. earth, and here she shows it as limitless and beyond
comprehension. In another example of verbal irony, the
The pronoun this in the second line refers to the poem itself,
speaker says she is bringing all these things—fields, meadows,
which the speaker at first implies modestly is not much to
bees—but all she is bringing is the poem, which is but a picture
"bring" because it is "all" she has. But when she adds to it her
of the things she describes. This concept of the power of a
heart, along with all the wide fields and meadows and the bees
single poem typifies her thoughts about literature, as she
in the clover, she suggests the opposite: she is bringing
reveals later in "There is no Frigate like a Book."
everything of importance she could possibly bring.
In this poem Dickinson deviates from iambic meter in the
This poem consists of two four-line stanzas of ballad meter. In
second, third, and seventh lines, all of which begin with "This,
most of her poem, Dickinson typically uses ballad meter, which
and my heart." The word This is a single stressed syllable,
consists of four-line stanzas (or quatrains) of iambic
whereas the next three words form an anapest (two
tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter: the syllable count
unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable). Such
of the four lines is therefore 8, 6, 8, 6. Ballad meter is similar to
variations are typical of ballad meter and in this case
common meter, which is the meter of many Protestant hymns,
emphasize the word This, which refers to the poem.
such as "Amazing Grace." In common meter the first and third
lines of each stanza rhyme as do the second and fourth,
making the rhyme scheme ABAB. Common meter also tends to
be strictly metrical because it forms the basis of hymns sung in
Heart! We will forget him!
church. However, because Dickinson tends to rhyme only the
second and fourth lines of each stanza (resulting in a rhyme
scheme of ABCB) and is less strictly metrical, it is more Summary
accurate to say she uses ballad meter.
This two-stanza poem deviates from ballad meter in a few
ways. The first line consists of only six syllables instead of the
Analysis usual eight, and it neither begins nor ends with an iambic foot.
While the third and fourth lines approximate ballad meter, the
The modest, apologetic tone of the opening line at first fifth, seventh, and eighth lines are shorter than usual.
misleads the reader, who soon understands the speaker is Addressing her heart, the speaker proposes they both forget
using verbal irony in an understatement: what the speaker an unnamed "him," presumably an object of romantic love. As
brings is incalculably vast. Little by little the speaker adds to the speaker must forget his "light," her heart must forget "the
the initial This as the reader comes to recognize all she warmth he gave." She indicates the heart must be first to
mentions. forget before she herself can forget and urges it to tell her
immediately when it has finished, for she is in danger of
In line 5 the speaker again takes a humble tone, urging readers remembering him.

understood not by those who have achieved it but by those

Analysis who have failed to do so. One best understands the sweetness
of success when one has failed. In the second stanza the
In speaking directly to her heart, the speaker uses the literary
speaker introduces the analogy of war to suggest victors in
device of apostrophe—addressing a distant person, an object,
battle cannot understand the notion of success as well as
or an idea—to express the pain of remembrance. The speaker
those who have been defeated. On the abandoned battlefield
assumes the persona of a forgotten or rejected lover and
the lone soldier "defeated—dying" hears the sounds of
makes a distinction between herself (her mind) and her heart
"triumph" denied to him as one who has failed and feels a loss
(her emotions). The heart will miss the beloved's "warmth," but
more significant than the victory is to those who have won.
she, the speaker, will miss the more intellectual quality of
"light," which for Dickinson often suggests welcome
illumination, understanding, or clarity. The speaker seems
helpless in her desire to forget because she urges the heart to
Analysis
hurry, lest she fail in her intention and prolong the pain.
This is a definition poem in that true understanding of the
Some critics see the imagery in this poem as fitting with that of meaning of success depends on one's perspective, or, in this
the "Master letters," a series of three letters Dickinson wrote, case, something is more desired or valuable to those who don't
but may not have sent, to a male figure who was an object of have it than to those who do. The notion that understanding or
unrequited affection from 1858–62, some of her most knowledge is relative to one's position in life is a common
productive years. Although it's not generally agreed who the theme in Dickinson's poetry.
"Master" may have been, some believe it was Samuel Bowles,

Her use of alliteration in the first two lines highlights the
editor of the Springfield Republican, with whom Dickinson
subject success. The use of the word nectar as the direct
maintained a long friendship and correspondence.
object of comprehend is clearly a poetic choice: How can
In this poem the meter varies to reflect the speaker's emotions anyone understand a beverage? Dickinson uses this unusual
as she addresses her heart. Beginning with the stressed word choice to emphasize the extreme sweetness of success
syllable Heart! creates a sense of urgency, as the speaker to those who fail. Nectar is significant because it is the
directly addresses her heart, urging it to act. The second line sweetest, most desired drink in all of literature. Indeed, it is
has only five, rather than the usual six, syllables and also what the Greek gods imbibe to preserve their immortality.
begins with a stressed syllable You, and the seventh line again
The second and third stanzas illustrate the concept
begins with the single stressed syllable Haste!, another
established in the first. In these stanzas Dickinson uses a
command to the heart.
conceit and diction that refer to a battlefield. The "purple Host"
(royal army) that "took the Flag" (won the battle) cannot
understand "Victory" as well as the dying soldier on whose ear
Success is counted sweetest "the distant strains" or sounds of victory are painfully clear.
Their celebration is in the moment, whereas the soldier's
defeat seems eternal.
Summary
By ending five of the lines on unstressed syllables instead of
This three-stanza poem in ballad meter deviates from the the usual stressed syllables, Dickinson makes them appear to
typical iambic tetrameter in the odd-numbered lines (with the lose energy at the end, reflecting the sense of defeat
exception of the fifth). All lines that would normally be in iambic throughout the poem. Furthermore, the slant rhyme of
tetrameter (the first and third lines of each stanza) instead "dying/triumph" in the third stanza highlights the contrast
consist of three iambic feet plus an extra unstressed syllable. between the experience of the defeated soldier and those who
A variety of hymn meter, this pattern is sometimes known as have won the battle.
"Sevens and Sixes."
The poem asserts that success is most appreciated and best

She died—this was the way she "Faith" is a fine invention

died
Summary
Summary This single stanza in ballad meter deviates from Dickinson's
typical use of iambic meter only in the first line, which has
This two-stanza poem in ballad meter deviates from iambic seven rather than eight syllables, and begins with the single
meter in the first line. The second and fourth lines of both stressed syllable, "Faith," thereby emphasizing it as defined in
stanzas are in typical iambic trimeter, but the third line of each the poem.
consists of three iambic feet plus an unstressed syllable.
The speaker asserts faith is acceptable in situations when one
The speaker describes a woman's death. After she stops can rely on the evidence gathered by the senses ("When
breathing, the woman then takes her "wardrobe" and heads Gentlemen who see!"). However, when one cannot fall back on
toward the sun. She arrives at a gate, a portal between the senses it is better to rely on science when it matters most:
mortality and immortality, from which she vanishes. The "Microscopes are prudent / In an Emergency!"
speaker presumes angels must have come and brought her
into heaven.
Analysis
Analysis By placing the word Faith in quotation marks, Dickinson has
the speaker attempt to define it or at least define its limits. A
Dickinson is always a close observer of life and death, and her keen observer of life, Dickinson trusts her senses, as does the
poetry often reveals a frank portrayal of death. When someone speaker. She clearly believes in empiricism, favoring
dies in a Dickinson poem, the person simply becomes a corpse, "microscopes" (science) over blind faith. The speaker
as the poet focuses on the moment a living person ceases to emphasizes the importance of what one can actually see and
be: the moment of "unbecoming." Death is neither romanticized examine, just as elsewhere in her poetry Dickinson expresses
nor emotionalized. a preference for the heaven she can see here on earth—in
other words, nature—to the one many believe exists after
In this poem the woman simply stops breathing. Dickinson death. This poem also contains a paradox: the speaker says
suggests the image of a quiet and uneventful trip as the dead "Faith" is fine when one can see it—that is, use one's
woman, wearing simple clothes, departs toward "the sun," senses—but if one can use his or her senses then one doesn't
presumably heaven. The speaker supposes the angels "must need to rely on faith. By asserting that faith, which is belief in
have spied" her "at the gate" of heaven, for the speaker cannot things unseen, is acceptable only when one can see and
find the dead person in the mortal world. There is no final, examine things, she is really saying that blind faith is
impassioned exclamation, no vision of angels or bright light, no unacceptable.
mention of the soul or spirit leaving the body. The deceased
has simply gone on a quiet journey, never to return.
In the first line the word this is a stressed syllable where one Two swimmers wrestled on the
would expect an unstressed syllable, thereby creating a slight
pause and emphasizing this, which refers to the ensuing spar—
narrative.
Summary
In this poem, which consists of two stanzas of ballad meter,

two swimmers are wrestling or struggling in the ocean on a "liquor never brewed"—that is, not distilled by humans.
spar, or ship's beam, floating on the waves. After a long night Throughout the poem Dickinson uses the language and
one is safe and swims, smiling, toward land. However, the other imagery of intemperate alcohol consumption to describe how
swimmer dies. Ships pass by his body, floating with face the beauty of summer affects the speaker. She is drunk on the
upturned, eyes pleading, and hands thrown up in a gesture of air and the dew, reeling from the blue of the skies. Unwilling to
begging. stop while mildly intoxicated, in the third stanza she vows to
continue imbibing even after fellow revelers in nature—bees
and butterflies—cease their drinking. Her joy in the powerful
Analysis effects of nature will not stop until she reaches the sun, an
event that will draw the attention of seraphs and saints.
The poem begins with an enigma, which often occurs in
Dickinson's poetry: What is meant when the speaker says the
swimmers "wrestled"? Are they wrestling to stay afloat? Are Analysis
they wrestling playfully? Or is each trying to overpower the
other? Has one left the other to die? Readers cannot be sure. This poem describes the speaker's enjoyment of nature's
beauty in one long conceit involving drunkenness. The speaker
Like "Success is counted sweetest" this poem deals continues to drink, metaphorically, throughout the poem,
unflinchingly with loss. Also characteristic of Dickinson is her becoming more and more inebriated until she can no longer
cool-eyed focus on the moment of death, of "unbecoming." stand up straight and must lean against the sun at the end of
Readers see the helplessness of the drowned swimmer the poem. In creating this conceit, Dickinson uses familiar
through the "begging" eyes and "beseeching" hands. There is diction and expressions of the temperance literature common
no sense of justice or the operation of fate: the death is cruel in her day, a time when per capita alcohol consumption in the
and unexplained, as the other swimmer turns "smiling to the United States was high and the temperance movement
land." However, unlike other Dickinson poems about death that increasingly vocal.
comes in the guise of a courtly gentleman or friend or features
the deceased as simply moving from a living to an unliving Interposed with the imagery of inebriation are images of
state, this poem features the dead figure as "begging" for natural phenomena, described through Dickinson's
life—and not accepting death as a part of life. In this sense it characteristic eye for detail. From pearl "Tankards," or steins,
shows a distinctly different take on death than does "She the speaker consumes alcoholic beverages that surpass
died—this was the way she died" (#150). In fact it reflects anything produced by the vintners along the Rhine River in
struggle and pain, as does "Apparently with no surprise" Germany, an area known for its fine wines. She has become
(#1624, not discussed in this guide). Readers might even ask "Inebriate," or drunk on the air, and she has enjoyed the dew so
whether the speaker implies people don't much care about much as to become a "Debauchee"—one who has overindulged
others or don't care about them once they're dead. As is in drinking—to the point of "Reeling," or staggering drunkenly,
typical of many of Dickinson's poems, the reader is left uneasy, out of "inns of molten Blue," which refer to the liquid blue of the
with no sense of resolution. summer sky. She is more intoxicated than the bees that the
"Landlords" of the foxgloves might turn out of their inns for
being too drunk. Even when the "Butterflies" renounce their
I taste a liquor never brewed— "drams," or shots, when they give up drinking she vows to
continue becoming drunk on the beauty of nature until she
reaches the ultimate object of nature: the sun.
Summary
This poem consists of four stanzas, which, with minor Wild nights—Wild nights!
exceptions, adhere to Dickinson's typical use of ballad meter.
In the poem the speaker relates how she is becoming
inebriated by the glories of summer. The natural world is a

nights" and the anaphora, or repeated beginnings, of lines 7

Summary and 8. The first line, standing alone—"Wild nights—Wild
nights!"—shouts for attention. Four subsequent lines end in
The lines in this three-stanza poem are shorter than typical
exclamation points, indicating significant emotion. Clearly this
lines of ballad meter or of Dickinson's other poems. Typically
is one of Dickinson's most explicitly sexual poems.
Dickinson alternates lines of eight syllables and six
syllables—or four feet and then three feet of iambic meter. But
these lines contain only four or five syllables throughout the
poem, and if every two lines of this poem were combined the
"Hope" is the thing with
poem would be much more like the bulk of her poetry in terms
of structure: roughly six lines of ballad meter.
feathers—
The speaker tells an absent love that if she were with him, they
would enjoy passionate, or "wild nights," together. The second Summary
stanza introduces the extended metaphor of a storm at sea,
for which a compass and map are useless. Love—her The poem deviates from Dickinson's typical use of ballad
heart—lies outside the storm, in a safe port, and the speaker meter only in the first line, which begins with the stressed
longs to moor there for the night with her lover. To do so would syllable Hope as the word the rest of the poem then defines. In
be paradise. the poem, hope, characterized as a bird, sits delicately inside a
person and cheers or charms the individual's soul. Hope is
sweetest when things are most desperate, and it survives in
Analysis the worst of circumstances. The speaker says she has had
hope in the most difficult situations, always there for her and
Some critics believe this is a poem of desire addressed by never asking for anything in return.
Dickinson to a figure known as "Master," the object of
unrequited love, to whom she wrote three letters between
1858 and 1862. Its passion clearly indicates it is addressed to Analysis
the object of the speaker's desire.
This poem uses a conceit, or extended (and in this case
The sailing conceit, or extended metaphor, introduced in the
implied) metaphor, to compare Hope with a bird—"the thing
second stanza involves a comparison between the speaker
with feathers." Like a bird Hope perches delicately, sings
and a ship navigating the ocean. She calls the winds "Futile ... /
ceaselessly, buoys the soul, and keeps it warm even in the
To a Heart in port." That is, a heart that has already journeyed
worst circumstances, even though, like a bird, it is fragile and
and reached the "port" of its love would be "Done with the
slight. The speaker points out the song of Hope is "sweetest in
Compass— / Done with the Chart!" In the third stanza the
the Gale," or during storms of adversity. This thought brings to
speaker wishes she might "but moor—Tonight— / In Thee!"
mind the poet's "Success is counted sweetest / By those who
Mooring, away from the raging storm, would keep the heart
ne'er succeed": that is, truth or knowledge depends upon one's
safe, protected from the elements, and she would be rowing in
perspective.
"Eden," or paradise. The language in this stanza is explicit and
underscores the physical rather than the idealized or In the third stanza the speaker uses the pronoun I, indicating
intellectual. That the speaker says "In Thee" (in capital letters) personal experience with both Extremity, or difficulties, and
rather than "With Thee" or something more general to imply Hope. She has heard the bird sing in the coldest and most alien
companionship indicates physical desire. This poem reflects places, suggesting moments in her life when she felt most
even more of Dickinson's idiosyncratic use of dashes than is challenged and uncertain. By pointing out Hope "never ... / ...
usual for her. Perhaps they reflect the intensity of emotion in asked a crumb—of Me," the speaker makes the point Hope is
the poem. always there; one doesn't have to do anything to use it.
The shorter line length of this poem helps emphasize the

emotion of the words, highlighting the repetition of "Wild

There's a certain Slant of light, I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
Summary Summary
This poem departs from Dickinson's typical use of ballad meter This poem, which consists of five stanzas of ballad meter,
in that most of its lines are shorter than usual by one or two documents the process of a mental breakdown or possibly a
syllables. The poem asserts that the light of a winter afternoon fainting spell through the conceit of a deceased person
is oppressive and heavy, like organ music in a cathedral. For narrating the events at her own funeral. She hears the solemn
the speaker it gives "Heavenly Hurt" but leaves "no scar," steps of mourners, whose tread is then replaced by the
nothing but despair. The afternoon light dominates the drumlike "beating" sounds of a funeral service, which make her
landscape, creating shadows when it appears, and then when feel as if her mind were "going numb." The sounds then change
it departs—at sunset—it becomes unreachably distant like the to creaking as her coffin is carried, then heavy footsteps again,
"look of Death." and the overwhelming tolling of a bell. The speaker's
consciousness diminishes so that is just an ear hearing this
sound, which is replaced by silence. She then feels the
Analysis sensation of falling, or being "dropped down." Finally reason
breaks down, and she ceases to be conscious of anything.
The speaker describes a moment during a New England winter
day, focusing on light that will shortly disappear. In many
Dickinson poems, light often brings joy or physical or spiritual Analysis
illumination. Here, however, it imparts oppressive, painful
feelings. On winter afternoons the light doesn't last long and its The conceit of the funeral is delivered in one long sentence
presence is less illuminating than it is in other works. The light strung together with a series of ands, beginning in a room full
in fact brings a hint of mortality, for its disappearance is of people and sound. At the end there is only the speaker in a
compared with death. world of silence.
In the last stanza, which documents the moment before the Unusual for a poet who so accurately portrays visual detail, this
light disappears and darkness comes, the landscape and poem is all sound, no sights. Instead of reporting clearly about
shadows are personified just before they are extinguished in what she sees, it's almost as if she is not witnessing events
darkness. When the light leaves Dickinson compares the firsthand: she "felt a Funeral"; it "seemed / That Sense was
resulting scene to the unreachability of death on the face of a breaking through"; she "heard them lift a Box." By relating
corpse: the moment of "unbecoming" that appears in so many events as if the speaker were one step removed from full
of Dickinson's poems. The light, and its removal, seems to perception of reality, the poem documents the stages of loss
come from heaven, and although readers look for meaning of perception, going from consciousness to
there is none: there is no plan, no lesson to be learned. semiconsciousness to unconsciousness, and ending at a
Meaning, which is "internal," is subjective, relative. moment when the process of thinking suddenly ceases.
The shortness of the lines makes it feel as if the speaker is The reader is immediately thrown off guard by the first clause,
running out of words, or hasn't the energy to continue. This which is strikingly unusual in its diction: the speaker states she
truncation seems to intensify the weighty sense of winter "feels" a "funeral." One might see a funeral, or possibly hear a
depression, as does the "Heft / Of Cathedral Tunes." funeral, but what does it mean to "feel" a funeral, especially in
one's brain? As the poem proceeds, readers sense the
speaker is discussing painful or uncomfortable sensations in
her head. The poem begins with a gathering of mourners
"treading" through the speaker's brain, the pain becoming so
unbearable her mind goes numb. At this point she no longer

speaks of her brain and her mind but of "Space," "all the As in "The Soul selects her own Society—" the speaker limits
Heavens," and "Being," which suggest a loss of, or descent her choice of companionship, and in this case avoids those like
from, consciousness. In the fourth stanza she is alone, in the attention-seeking "Somebody," whether that "Somebody"
silence, no longer among the mourners. Finally, in the last be writers or other public-minded individuals. In fact, in line 4
stanza, when the "Plank in Reason" breaks, she plunges into the speaker asks the individual addressed to remain silent
unconsciousness. Although the poem seems to deal with the about their being "a pair" of nobodies, for outside
loss of consciousness, Dickinson presents it in a manner communication might bring them unwanted attention ("they'd
reminiscent of the finality of death. advertise").
The poem adheres, for the most part, to Dickinson's typical use Although the tone is light the thought is serious. Indeed, when
of ballad meter: throughout the poem the steady iambic meter considering Dickinson's life readers can readily connect the
seems to beat like a drum. The sounds are portrayed as speaker and the poet who deliberately chose anonymity. Like
repetitive and wearisome and come to resemble an unbearable the speaker Dickinson wished to remain anonymous during her
headache. The mourners go "to and fro" and keep life, unwilling for her work to be published and thereby exposed
"treading—treading" through the speaker's head. Next she says to an audience whose understanding might have proved as
the service seems to be "beating" repetitively, "like a Drum," shallow as the croaking frog seeking attention from "an
until her mind seems to go numb. In the third stanza she hears admiring Bog." Dickinson's writing is often secret, oblique,
the "Boots of Lead, again." Finally there is only sound, the figurative, enigmatic, and not at all meant for public
speaker is an ear, and nothing but silence remains before display—and that is how Dickinson wanted it to remain. The
reason drops away. implied comparison between her own private self and those
who seek public attention leads her to poke fun at the
"Somebody" who craves recognition, who tells "one's
I'm Nobody! Who are you? name—the livelong June—" like a frog croaking all summer to
an audience of like-minded individuals. The implication, too, is
the loftier status of a worthy "Nobody" is incomprehensible to
Summary an unworthy "Somebody," who must spend considerable time

proclaiming their importance.
In this two-stanza poem in ballad meter, the speaker

Although the second stanza generally follows Dickinson's
announces she is a "Nobody." Then, having ascertained her
typical use of ballad meter, the meter in the first stanza
silent addressee is another "Nobody," she counsels not to "tell"
deviates at several points: the first and third lines are shorter,
they are two nobodies so they can avoid attention. The
and the fourth line is longer, giving the beginning of the poem a
speaker is glad not to be a "Somebody," or someone who
more conversational, informal feeling. The rhyme scheme is
seeks attention, finding such status too "public" and, "like a
AABA in the first stanza, with full rhyme in the first two lines
Frog," croaking to assumed admirers she continually would
and slant rhyme in the fourth. The full rhyme of the first two
have to reveal herself to others.
lines emphasizes the air of playfulness and contributes
significantly to the light tone. The second stanza follows an
ABCB pattern. Dashes slow the motion of the poem, serving as
Analysis momentary interruptions.
This short, playful poem reflects the speaker's desire to remain

anonymous and her distaste for both public attention and
those who seek it. A "Nobody" is someone who keeps to
The Soul selects her own
herself, whereas a "Somebody" is someone who wants public
acclaim. The frog simile is striking, for frogs do in fact make a
Society—
lot of noise. The metaphor of society as "an admiring Bog"
continues the frog simile and reflects a satiric slap at those
who value noise and show above substance.

Summary A Bird, came down the Walk—

This three-stanza poem deviates from ballad meter in an
unusual way. While in typical ballad meter the odd-numbered
lines have eight syllables and the even number lines have six, in
Summary
this poem the odd-numbered lines have nine or 10 syllables,
The meter of this five-stanza poem differs somewhat from
while the shortened even-number lines have, in the first two
Dickinson's usual ballad meter. In the first three stanzas, the
stanzas, only four syllables, and in the final stanza, only two
first line has only six syllables instead of the usual eight. Only
each.
the third lines of the stanzas, except the fourth, have the full
The speaker describes the way one ("the soul") chooses eight syllables. The rhyme in the first two stanzas is the typical
particular friends or companions. The soul chooses those with ABCB pattern of most of her poetry, but the second and fourth
whom she will associate and then shuts out everyone else. It lines of the third stanza do not rhyme at all, and the fourth and
doesn't matter how grand or important any subsequent visitor fifth stanzas feature slant rhyme.
might be: she will be "unmoved" even if an "Emperor" were to

In this narrative of the speaker's encounter with a bird, she
"be kneeling / Upon her Mat." The speaker has known the soul
sees him first savagely bite a worm in halves before eating it,
to choose just one companion and then firmly close off her
drink dew from a blade of grass, and then politely hop to the
attention to others.
side "To let a Beetle pass." The bird's eyes then glance around
nervously, and the speaker offers him a crumb. At this point,
apparently frightened, the bird takes off, moving smoothly, with
Analysis grace and beauty, through the air.
This poem creates a picture of a soul, or an individual, who

chooses a companion and then coldly shuts all others out.
Acting without regret or compunction, she "shuts the Door,"
Analysis
closes the "Valves of her attention," and is "Unmoved" by those
This poem provides examples both of Dickinson's love of
who present themselves to her. The feeling of decisive
nature and her clear-eyed, unromantic, and sometimes clinical
renunciation is accentuated by the feeling of abruptness
way of presenting it. The bird described is at once savage and
created by the disparity in length between the odd-numbered
genteel, frightened and unspeakably beautiful. Because the
lines and the even-numbered lines.
bird is unaware of the speaker's presence—"He did not know I
Similar to "'Hope' is the thing with feathers—" in the third saw"—the reader has the sense the description presented is
stanza a first-person speaker suddenly appears ("I've known authentic. The shortness of the first line of each stanza gives it
her") and notes the Soul, in selecting her own society, might a clipped feeling, as if one who is watching in secret were
choose just one other, suggesting "her divine Majority" may be keeping her comments short.
just a majority of two. After this she closes "the Valves of her
The bird at first seems cruel and bloody, biting the angleworm
attention"—her eyes—"like Stone."
in half and eating it "raw," which is a perfect example of
The attitude in this poem reflects facts of Dickinson's life; she Dickinson's predilection for reporting accurately what she
was not a public person, not given to socializing beyond a sees. Although she loves nature, she does not romanticize the
small, carefully selected circle. In later life she became bird's actions. In the second stanza he graciously makes way
something of a recluse, known to local people as "The Myth," for a beetle. And in the third stanza, this terror of the
according to Mabel Loomis Todd, who later edited her poetry. angleworm becomes frightened himself, as Dickinson
This poem seems to assert the soul must attend to itself, and accurately describes the movement of the bird's beady eyes.
no lover, friend, or ambition deserves dominion over it.

There is even a comic moment in the fourth stanza, depending
on how one reads the first line. If one reads it as the
continuation of the thought at the end of the third stanza, then

it becomes "He stirred his Velvet Head / Like one in danger, describes the effects on various parts of the body—the nerves,
Cautious" indicating the bird is cautious. But one might also the heart, the feet. Everything about the sufferer is slowed
read the first line of the fourth stanza as beginning a new down, stunned. The poem is filled with words denoting
thought, in which case the speaker seems to suggest she is in stiffness and weight: Tombs, stiff, mechanical, Wooden, Quartz,
danger of the bird: "Like one in danger, Cautious, / I offered stone, Lead, Freezing.
him a Crumb."
At first, the sufferer seems stunned and stupefied. The heart
Finally, as the bird takes off, the speaker becomes lyrical in isn't sure what has happened to it or when it happened. The
describing his graceful movements. The flapping of his wings is feet continue mechanically, suggesting one goes through the
soft, gentle, and subtle, causing as little disturbance to the sky motions of existence without thinking about it. The final stanza,
as "Oars divide the ocean," too smooth and silvery to admit "a in which the speaker compares the "Hour of Lead" to freezing
seam" caused by a rowing boat. Further the bird's movements in the snow, is reminiscent of the description of losing
are as smooth as those of butterflies, which cause no splashes consciousness, which occurs in stages, as in "I felt a Funeral, in
when they swim off the "Banks of Noon," as if noon were a my Brain." The third stanza seems to slow down as it
river. Dickinson's comparisons make the bird seem almost continues, perhaps in preparation for the first line of the next
otherworldly. stanza, "This is the Hour of Lead—" which sums up all that has
gone before.
After great pain, a formal

Much Madness is divinest
feeling comes—
Sense—
Summary
Summary
In this three-stanza poem the meter is irregular and top-heavy.
Instead of the usual alternating lines of four iambic feet and The meter of this two-stanza poem deviates somewhat from
three iambic feet, the first four lines consist of pentameter (five Dickinson's typical use of ballad meter. While the first two lines
feet, or 10 syllables). And the second stanza is irregular: the in the first stanza and the last two lines in the second stanza
first line has eight syllables, the second has six, the third has have the usual number of syllables, the third line has only seven
four, the fourth has three, and the fifth—unusual for a rather than eight. The first line of the second stanza has only
Dickinson poem—has eight. six rather than eight syllables, creating a pause after the word
prevail, which comes right before Dickinson's conclusion in the
The poem describes what happens after one experiences a last three lines, beginning with the word Assent.
great pain or loss. Whether it is physical or emotional is
unclear. The nerves are still, the heart wonders what has just This poem uses paradox to define sense and its opposite,
happened, the feet continue to walk mechanically unaware of madness. Much of what people take to be madness is actually
what they're treading on. The body becomes heavy and leaden. sensible, and much of what people take to be sensible is not. It
The whole experience, if one survives it, is remembered in all depends on what the majority believes. If one agrees with
stages, the way freezing people remember the snow: the prevailing thought, one is considered sane. However, if one
"First—Chill—then Stupor—then the letting go—" of the feeling. disagrees one may be considered crazy, even dangerous.
Analysis Analysis
This poem is a clear account of the conscious process of This poem is an example of Dickinson's fondness for paradox.
suffering, in which Dickinson minutely describes the stages Madness is sensible; sense is madness. Yet the reader comes
one goes through after feeling great pain. The speaker to see both are true. In the world of Dickinson's poetry,

knowledge and truth frequently depend on one's perspective.

And, of course, this sentiment reflects the way Dickinson lived
Summary
her own life. As a student at South Hadley Seminary, she was
This four-stanza poem for the most part follows standard
unwilling to comply with the majority and claim she was ready
ballad meter, and the poet uses slant rhyme in the second and
to give her soul to Christ. And as she grew older she lived her
fourth lines of the first three stanzas. The poem is narrated
own eccentric life, regardless of what others thought of her.
from the perspective of a deceased person, but events are not
presented chronologically. The first line about the buzzing fly
presages an event that comes at the end of the third stanza.
This is my letter to the World The speaker begins by describing the silence among a group
of friends and loved ones at a deathbed scene. It is a silence
that has come after a period of upheaval or noise and will be
Summary followed by more of the same. The mourners have wept their
tears and, in the silence, anticipate the moment God ("the
In this two-stanza poem, which generally adheres to standard King") will appear to the dying person. The speaker mentions
ballad meter, the speaker tells those who would be her readers she has willed away her earthly possessions, and then, just at
her "letter to the World" is the "News that Nature told." In other the moment when one might expect her to say something
words she is conveying the message of nature to readers significant, a fly buzzes by distracting her from the "light" one is
unknown and asks them, "Sweet—countrymen," to judge her thought to see at death. For the dying speaker, "the Windows
kindly because of her love of nature. failed," and she is prevented from experiencing any spiritual
awareness: because she could no longer see she could not tell
whether anything momentous occurred.
Analysis
In this poem the speaker clearly identifies herself as a poet Analysis
who writes to "the World." The speaker, therefore, is unlike
Dickinson the poet, who was reluctant to publish her poetry. This is another of the many poems in which Dickinson coolly
However, the speaker does resemble the poet, who wrote and factually describes the passing from life to death: the
innumerable letters. The speaker also identifies herself as a process of "unbecoming." With its focus on the fly, a creature
poet of nature, which, on the other hand does reflect Dickinson associated with decomposition of the corporeal body, the
and her many poems in which she accurately describes what poem provides a particularly unsentimental view of death.
she sees in nature, which she considers her heaven on earth. Indeed, Dickinson portrays death as being just what it seems
to be, nothing more: no deep perception of infinite spiritual
In a phrase typical of Dickinson's fondness for paradox, the
reality, no meeting with God. Instead of building to a climax of
speaker mentions nature's "tender Majesty." The word tender
weeping or meaningful last words, the speaker mentions the
appears a second time in this short poem when the speaker
mundane act of willing away keepsakes and the similarly
begs her "countrymen" (presumably citizens of "the World") to
mundane, yet annoying, appearance of the fly that interrupts
judge her "tenderly" for the news she brings; in other words to
the proceedings.
be kind in judging her poetry of nature.
The fly takes center stage from the beginning—even though
chronologically its appearance should occur later—diminishing
I heard a Fly buzz—when I any sense of a momentous event about to occur. And when it
does bumble in again at the end of the third stanza, interposing
died— itself between the light, perhaps of revelation, and the speaker,
Dickinson describes the interruption with a rather long phrase
containing consonance and assonance—"With Blue—uncertain
stumbling Buzz"—to represent the somewhat oafish entrance
of this carrion pest. Having used slant rhyme in the first three

stanzas, in the fourth Dickinson finally uses full rhyme in the

second and last lines (me and see), perhaps to emphasize the I dwell in Possibility—
finality of the event.
Summary
The Brain—is wider than the
This three-stanza poem follows standard ballad meter for the
Sky— most part, although some lines that would normally contain
eight syllables, or four iambic feet—the third line in the first
stanza and the first line in the second and third stanzas—have
only seven syllables and end in an unstressed syllable.
Summary
In the framework of an elaborate architectural conceit, the
The three stanzas of this poem, which adhere to Dickinson's speaker explains she dwells in a house she calls "Possibility,"
typical use of standard ballad meter, describe the brain. In the by which she means poetry. Poetry, she asserts, is more
first stanza the speaker asserts the brain is wider than the sky beautiful—"fairer ... than prose." Its greater number of
because it can hold within it all of the seemingly limitless sky metaphorical windows and doors offer more ways of viewing
and still have room for the reader, You. In the second stanza, and connecting with the natural world. The poetic house is built
the speaker says the brain is deeper than the sea because it of strong, beautiful materials and has limitless potential. In her
can absorb all the sea contains. In the third stanza the speaker house of poetry she receives "the fairest" visitors, and all she
maintains the brain's weight is just about equal to that of God, has to do is spread her hands to gather paradise.
and if there is any difference it is as minuscule as the
difference between "Syllable" and "Sound."
Analysis
Analysis In the first line, by comparing "Possibility" to "prose," the
speaker is implying possibility—or poetry—is the opposite of
In this poem Dickinson uses three conceits, or extended prose, which, for the speaker has more limitations. After initially
metaphors, to celebrate the power of the brain. To Dickinson, stating she dwells in possibility, the speaker continues the
the word brain means "understanding or imagination," and as a architectural metaphors to demonstrate the superiority of
poet she was fascinated by the power of the creative poetry to prose. The windows can be seen as vantage points
imagination. The brain can contain the sky or the sea, not or differing perspectives. The doors can be points of entry. The
literally of course, but in terms of understanding or imagination. cedars suggest the cedars of Lebanon mentioned in the Old
By comparing the brain to God, she is recognizing its creative, Testament: tall, strong trees used in building the Temple. The
imaginative power. Furthermore, by noting the similarity house in this poem is built so sturdily it is "Impregnable of Eye,"
between "Syllable" and "Sound," she is acknowledging the way crowned with a roof as high as the sky and constructed to last
the brain uses language to understand and create. forever.
The close structural parallelism of the three stanzas enhances In these ways, the speaker says, poetry is superior to prose.
the musical quality of the poem. The first lines begin with the Poetry attracts visitors more beautiful than those of prose, or
same words: "The Brain is." The second lines are all closely readers more attuned to the limitless poetic imagination than
parallel, beginning with "For" and ending with two repeated to the stricter boundaries of prose. In poetry the speaker
nouns joined by a preposition. Considerable repetition of creates such bounty of beauty and ideas all she has to do is
structure appears in the third and fourth lines as well. spread her hands to create something beautiful. By implication,
a house of prose must be dark, with fewer perspectives or
entry points, built of lesser materials, and attracting dull
visitors.

suggests the speaker has died, for she—and the carriage—has

Because I could not stop for ceased to move. She then begins to feel cold (presumably the
cold of the grave), having dressed only in light clothing
Death— because she did not know her destination.
In the fifth stanza, they pause before what seems a grave, "a
Summary House that seemed / A Swelling of the Ground" with only the
roof visible. The image suggests the reality of bodily decay as
In this six-stanza poem, Dickinson uses standard ballad meter opposed to the promise of immortality. In the final stanza the
for the most part with the exception of the first two lines of the speaker is alone: Death is not mentioned, nor is Immortality.
fourth stanza. In this poem the speaker takes a metaphorical Centuries have passed, but the speaker no longer experiences
journey accompanied by Death, personified as a gentleman the passage of time as do the living, so it seems to have been
who picks the speaker up in a carriage, occupied by him and only a day since she first guessed the horses were headed
Immortality. Because she has neither the time nor the toward "Eternity." The speaker does not specifically mention
inclination to "stop for Death" the personified Death immortality, but readers may infer the existence of something
unexpectedly stops for her. Having put aside her work and her akin to it if the speaker is relating events of centuries ago when
leisure—her worldly pursuits—she rides in the carriage as it she died.
moves slowly, passing familiar, and realistic, scenes of town
Although readers may understand the poem as representing
life: schoolchildren, grain growing, and the sun setting. When
the journey of a deceased person to the grave, some critics
they pass the setting sun, they seem to come to a halt, for the
have suggested it is more a journey of realization about death.
speaker realizes "He [the sun] passed Us." At that moment she
At the beginning the speaker thinks of death as genteel,
becomes aware of feeling cold and then comes upon a grave.
nonthreatening, and accompanied by the promise of
By the end of the final stanza, she realizes what first seemed
immortality. By the end of the journey, however, having felt the
an unthreatening carriage ride has brought her to an eternal
cold reality of the grave, she no longer harbors illusions of
state of nonbeing.
immortality and recognizes death is final and eternal.
Dickinson uses standard ballad meter in the first three stanzas,

Analysis but then suddenly an inversion occurs in the beginning of the
fourth stanza. The first line, "Or rather—He passed Us—,"
One of Dickinson's most famous poems, "Because I could not
contains only six syllables so that the steady rhythm of the
stop for Death—," takes a clear-eyed view of death and dying.
carriage ride seems to pause abruptly at the moment the sun
At first Death is personified as a polite gentleman, not a grim
passes the speaker. The next line, which would normally
antagonist. He "kindly" stops for the speaker, and they leave
contain six syllables, instead has eight. After this break the
together in a carriage along with "Immortality," implying the end
poem returns to the usual ballad meter.
of life will lead to the immortality of the soul. The journey
begins slowly, and because Death has been so civil the
speaker feels no threat or fear. Indeed the metaphorical ride
seems almost welcome, for the speaker has willingly put away
My Life had stood—a Loaded
worldly occupations and, although caught unaware, is ready for
it.
Gun—
In the third stanza, the two pass sights that suggest three
stages of life: schoolchildren playing, fields of grain, and the Summary
setting sun. The first image suggests childhood, the second
adulthood or maturity, and the third old age and death when In this poem, written in Dickinson's usual ballad meter, the
the sun will set and leave only darkness. In the fourth stanza, speaker compares herself to a loaded gun, sitting passively "In
however, the speaker corrects herself, saying the sun passed Corners" until the owner identifies it as his own and carries it
the carriage instead of the other way around. This statement away. The speaker and the gun's owner hunt in the woods, and

the gun, when shot, speaks for its master, creating a sound
that echoes in the mountains. At the same time it emits a flash
Summary
of light, which the speaker compares to the eruption of a
This didactic poem, written in Dickinson's usual ballad meter,
volcano (Mount Vesuvius in Italy). At night the gun guards its
gives a clear, simple lesson about telling the truth. One must
"Master's Head" and finds doing so better than sleeping on the
tell all the truth, but one must tell it indirectly. By being
softest of pillows. The foe of its master's foes, the gun kills
somewhat circuitous, one meets with more success. The
them with one shot. In the final stanza the gun says although it
surprise of truth can be too bright, too startling, for
may live longer than its master, the master must outlive the gun
occasionally weak human comprehension. Just as adults
because even though the gun can kill, it cannot die.
gently explain the phenomenon of lightning to easily frightened
children, truths must be conveyed gradually, for to do so
suddenly would be too much for people to take all at once:
Analysis they would be blinded—or hurt—by the light of truth.
This poem describes a symbolic gun and its owner. Some

interpretations of the poem equate the gun as a symbol of the
speaker's anger, others as possession by demons, and others
Analysis
as female empowerment. It is as if the speaker's unused
The speaker, like the poet, holds truth in high regard. A keen
potential ("a Loaded Gun— / In Corners") is finally put to use
observer of everything around her, Dickinson does not flinch
when its owner and master identify it. In this way the gun may
from describing grim realities of nature and of death. As she
represent a subordinate entity activated and subservient to its
does elsewhere in her poetry, Dickinson here represents
master, protective but still dependent.
"Truth" with light, as her diction in this poem reveals: "bright,"
From the beginning to the end of the poem, the gun goes from "Lightning," and "dazzle." But the writer of "I heard a Fly
passivity to action. But later, in the fifth stanza, the gun seems buzz—when I died—" and "Because I could not stop for
to act on its own, laying "a Yellow eye— / Or an emphatic Death—" must certainly have known too much truth all at once
Thumb" on its master's foes. The final stanza contains can be hard to take: too much sudden light can "blind."
examples of the kind of paradox and enigma found in many of
The poem contains diction that is playful in its use of sound:
Dickinson's poems. While it is paradoxical the gun can kill but
the sibilance in the second line—"Success in Circuit
not die, it's not clear why the owner must outlive the gun.
lies"—slows the line down, as does the internal rhyme in the
One way of reading this poem is that the gun represents third line and the juxtaposition of the similar-sounding words
Dickinson the poet while the master stands for a male muse "superb surprise" in the fourth. Finally the paradoxical idea that
who inspires her. Another way of reading it is to imagine the something can "dazzle gradually" is highlighted by the
gun speaking as the primal impulse of the Master, representing assonance of those two words.
his desire to kill his enemies. A third way to read it is in light of
the three Master letters Dickinson wrote between 1858 and
1862 to an unidentified male figure she admired in which she There is no Frigate like a Book
expressed a longing for a Master. According to this reading,
she is glad to have been identified and owned but wishes to die
before he does. Summary
This poem, written in Dickinson's usual ballad meter, uses
Tell all the Truth but tell it metaphors of travel and transportation to extol the power of
literature to take readers on grand mental journeys. No ship
slant— can reveal the wonders of the world like a book that takes "us"
(readers) to distant lands. Nor are there any horses that can
match a page of "prancing Poetry." Even the poorest people
may be thus transported without having to pay any toll.

Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide Quotes 22
Literature—"the Chariot / That bears the Human soul"—is an

"I taste a liquor never brewed, /
affordable means of travel.
From tankards scooped in pearl"
Analysis — Narrator, I taste a liquor never brewed—
This poem is another example of what might be classified as a

definition poem, such as "Success is counted sweetest." In this The speaker is becoming drunk on the beauty of nature. The
case, the speaker defines the power and potential of literature. liquor is nature, which she is drinking from tankards, or large
The central conceit of travel is supported by various images cups with hinged tops. It is a "liquor never brewed" because it
involving transportation on the one hand—"Frigate," "Coursers," is not made by humans.
"Traverse," "Toll," and "Chariot"—and diction and metonymy of
literature on the other—"Book," "Page," and "Poetry"— in both
cases with the embellishment of playful alliteration. This is "There's a certain Slant of light, /
another poem in which Dickinson celebrates the power of
literature and the imagination, as she does in "I dwell in
Winter Afternoons— / That
Possibility—." oppresses, like the Heft / Of
Cathedral Tunes"
g Quotes — Narrator, There's a certain Slant of light,
"Success is counted sweetest / By The speaker notes during winter afternoons light falls in a
particular way—a certain slant—that seems heavy and
those who ne'er succeed"
oppressive. To Dickinson, light represents understanding, and
this light, which appears just before the darkness, symbolically
— Narrator, Success is counted sweetest presages death and thereby leads to feelings of despair.
The concept of success is best understood by those who do

not achieve it. In the poem a defeated soldier feels a deeper "How dreary to be somebody! /
loss than a victorious soldier feels the joy of winning. This
feeling is typical of Dickinson's belief that truth depends on
How public, like a frog / To tell
one's perspective. your name the livelong day / To an
admiring bog!"
""Faith" is a fine invention / For
— Narrator, I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Gentlemen who see!"
The speaker prefers to be nobody and would find it tiresome to
— Narrator, "Faith" is a fine invention
be "somebody" because professional recognition would be too
public. It would require presenting oneself to an admiring but
The speaker prefers microscopes, or empirical science, to uninformed audience. This sentiment seems to reflect the way
faith. Observation is crucial to Dickinson, who is more Dickinson herself must have felt. A private person, Dickinson
interested in understanding the world she can see than in lived a sheltered life and shunned public notice.
having faith in what she cannot.

Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide Quotes 23
"The Soul selects her own simple News that Nature told, /
Society— / Then—shuts the With tender Majesty"
Door—"
— Narrator, This is my letter to the World
— Narrator, The Soul selects her own Society—

The speaker, presumably Dickinson herself in this instance,
states her poetry—her "letter to the World"—is the wisdom
An individual—the soul—chooses a companion, or several, with
nature imparts to her. She then asks the reader to treat her
whom she wishes to associate. She then shuts herself off from
tenderly for that reason.
others, not wishing to maintain friendships with those she finds
uncongenial even though they may be influential.
"There interposed a Fly— / With

"A Bird came down the Walk— / Blue—uncertain stumbling Buzz— /
He did not know I saw— / He bit an Between the light—and me—"
Angleworm in halves / And ate the
— Narrator, I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—
fellow, raw."
On her deathbed, the speaker is prevented from having a final
— Narrator, A Bird, came down the Walk— spiritual revelation because a fly buzzes in at the crucial
moment, blocking illumination. Its annoying and intrusive
The speaker secretly observes a bird devouring a worm it has presence brings to mind the imminent decaying of the body
bitten in half. This is an example of Dickinson's keen, rather than spiritual revelations. These lines are an example of
unflinching observation of what happens in nature. Dickinson's penchant for describing death precisely as
mundane rather than extraordinary.
"Much Madness is divinest

"The Brain—is wider than the
Sense— / To a discerning Eye— /
Sky— / For—put them side by
Much Sense—the starkest
side— / The one the other will
Madness"
contain / With ease—and
— Narrator, Much Madness is divinest Sense— You—beside—"
Paradoxically madness can seem sensible, and sense can — Narrator, The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
seem insane, to one whose perception is keen. This is another
example of Dickinson's belief that truth depends upon one's
By asserting the brain is larger than and can contain the entire
perspective.
sky, the speaker is saying the mind can understand or
conceive of immeasurably large natural phenomena. This
statement illustrates Dickinson's belief in the great power of
"This is my letter to the World / the imagination.
That never wrote to Me / The

Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide Symbols 24
"I dwell in Possibility— / A fairer To take us Lands away"

House than Prose—"
— Narrator, There is no Frigate like a Book
— Narrator, I dwell in Possibility—

The speaker praises the power of literature as a vehicle for
gaining knowledge and broadening one's horizons. Here she
Using an architectural conceit, the speaker states she dwells in
asserts books can transport people to faraway lands better
a house called "Possibility," better in many ways than the house
than ships can.
called "Prose," implying possibility stands for poetry. This
quotation reflects Dickinson's belief poetry has more
expressive potential and a wider range than prose.
l Symbols
"Because I could not stop for
Death— / He kindly stopped for Light
me— / The Carriage held but just
Ourselves— / And Immortality."
Light appears in many of Dickinson's poems as a symbol of
welcome illumination and understanding. She often shows an
— Narrator, Because I could not stop for Death— interest in the way light appears and plays upon objects.
Moreover, the sun, as the source of all light, serves an
The speaker begins to relate a journey she embarks upon with important function in many of her poems. It is the ultimate goal
the personified Death and Immortality. Although the poem of the speaker in "I taste a liquor never brewed—," who ends up
begins positively, it ends with a rather grim portrayal of the inebriated and leaning against the sun, as it is of the deceased
reality of death. This loss of illusion about death is typical of subject of "She died—this is the way she died."
the way Dickinson discusses it.
As it represents knowledge and understanding, light is the key
symbol in "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—," in which light is
"Truth." The speaker asserts too much truth all at once is too
"Tell all the Truth but tell it slant— much for people to take, just as too much light can leave one
/ Success in Circuit lies / Too "blind." Because of its strength and power, "Truth must dazzle
gradually," for it may be "too bright for our infirm Delight." In
bright for our infirm Delight / The "There's a certain Slant of light," the waning light of a winter
Truth's superb surprise" afternoon invokes despair as it reveals the truth of impending
death. Light also represents revelation in "I heard a Fly
buzz—when I died—," in which the anticipated spiritual
— Narrator, Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
understanding is blocked by the fly "interposed ... / Between
the light—and me—."
This quotation advises that although one should tell all the
truth, one should do so by indirection so as not to overwhelm
the recipient.
Sea
"There is no Frigate like a Book /
For Emily Dickinson the admirable and congenial aspects of

Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide Themes 25
nature are usually those associated with land and vegetation, because Dickinson is well aware of the cruelty of nature as
whereas the sea is often a treacherous, forbidding expanse well as its beauty, she is perfectly capable of showing a bird
that must be safely traversed. Thus it represents an aspect of biting "an Angleworm in halves" and giving no thought to eating
nature whose vastness and wildness are threatening. In "Two it in "A Bird, came down the Walk—."
swimmers wrestled on the spar—" the sea is the site of a life-
or-death struggle. The swimmer who survives is the one who
"turned ... to the land." In "Wild nights—Wild nights!" the speaker
wishes to be safely across the sea and moored in the object of Windows
her love, out of harm's way. Similarly in "'Hope' is the thing with
feathers—," the "strangest Sea" is a cold place of extremity.
Windows can symbolize eyes or vantage points in Dickinson's
poetry. At the end of "I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—" the
speaker loses consciousness and cannot see. This state of
Insects unconsciousness is expressed as "the Windows failed." But
windows can be more than mere eyes. The speaker in "I dwell
in Possibility—" asserts poetry is superior to prose because it is
Insects—bees, flies, beetles, and butterflies—appear in many of "More numerous of Windows," or allows more ways of seeing
Dickinson's poems and can be cast in either a positive or the world. Thus windows permit light to enter and the mind to
negative light. Generally they represent the unstoppable see outside itself.
process of nature. They're found everywhere: a beetle barging
past a bird, bees feeding on flowers and clover, and even a fly
buzzing around a deathbed. Bees often represent the
fecundity of nature, like the bees dwelling in the clover in "It's m Themes
all I have to bring today—." Drunken bees and butterflies are
associated with the intoxicating beauties of nature in "I taste a
liquor never brewed—." Because they're so tiny they cannot be
contained. They can fly into houses where people live, as does
Death
the fly in "I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—," reminding readers
of the inexorable process of decay that follows death.
Emily Dickinson is known for writing objectively and frankly
about death. Neither sanitized nor romanticized, her accounts
of death and dying often chronicle the moment a living person
Birds ceases to exist: the moment of "unbecoming." Death is simply
an ending of life. Dickinson's interest in death is clearly
evidenced by the many poems in which she refuses to look
Birds appear in a number of Dickinson's poems, not only as away from a person who has died, such as "She died—this was
representations of nature but also as symbols of women, the way she died" and "Two swimmers wrestled on the spar—."
especially as objects of or seekers of love. As representations
"I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—" is a poem that deprives a
of nature, birds are beautiful and delicate. The speaker in "A
deathbed scene of its expected emotional climax and solemn
Bird, came down the Walk—" describes the bird's beauty by
significance by bringing the reader's attention to the annoying
noting its "Velvet Head." When it takes off it moves elegantly:
and mundane buzzing of a fly. At a moment of what should be
"he unrolled his feathers / And rowed him softer home— / Than
heightened spiritual awareness, the fly is "interposed ... /
Oars divide the Ocean." Like women, birds are known not only
Between the light"—which, for Dickinson, often represents
for their beauty but also for their fragility. When the same bird
truth or understanding—and the dying speaker. By keeping her
becomes nervous, "He glanced with rapid eyes, / That hurried
focus on the intrusive fly rather than on the beatific expression
all around— / They looked like frightened Beads." In "'Hope' is
of the dying speaker, Dickinson not only highlights the
the thing with feathers—," hope is a delicate "little Bird." But

Poems of Emily Dickinson (Selected) Study Guide Suggested Reading 26
ordinariness of death but also brings in a bothersome creature Dickinson was acutely conscious of the importance of
associated with bodily decomposition. literature in general and poetry in particular. Fascinated by the
capability of the imagination, she considered literature its
Arguably the best known of her poems on this topic is vehicle, with greater power and potential than anything else in
"Because I could not stop for Death—." What begins as a the material world. For Dickinson, who never traveled abroad
pleasant, unthreatening carriage ride with the gentlemanly and rarely left Amherst, literature was an essential part of life.
figure of Death becomes something cold and lonely by the end In #1263, "There is no Frigate like a Book," she writes there is
of the poem: the speaker has gone through a transformation in no conveyance, manufactured or natural, like literature: "There
her understanding of death as welcome, even congenial, and is no Frigate like a Book," nor are there any "Coursers like a
now sees it as cold and isolating. Page / Of prancing Poetry." Similarly in "It's all I have to bring
today—" she asserts her poem is capable of bringing the
reader all the beauty of nature, and states in #441 her poetry is
her "letter to the World."
Nature
Not surprising, Dickinson praises the power of poetry over
prose. Poetry gives her greater freedom, whereas prose is too
To a great extent observing and writing about nature was confining. The potential of poetry is limitless for Dickinson. In "I
Emily Dickinson's mission: indeed, her "letter to the World" is dwell in Possibility—" the word possibility stands for poetry: "I
"the simple News that Nature told." For someone interested in dwell in Possibility— / A fairer House than Prose—." The
what she could see and who favored empiricism over faith, speaker in the poem recounts the reasons poetry is superior to
experiencing the world of nature was, in fact, a sacred act. She prose. To Dickinson a poet has special powers, and in "This
famously wrote in #324 (not discussed in this guide), "Some was a Poet" (#448, not discussed in this guide) she defines a
keep the Sabbath going to Church—," "Some keep the Sabbath poet as one who "Distills amazing sense / From ordinary
going to Church— / I keep it, staying at Home— / With a Meanings."
Bobolink for a Chorister— / And an Orchard, for a Dome—." In
much of her poetry she expresses a preference for the world
that can be observed over the world that must be believed in.
Her heaven is here on earth. e Suggested Reading
Many of her poems celebrate the beauty of nature. In "It's all I Bloom, Harold, editor. Emily Dickinson. Chelsea, 1985.
have to bring today—" the speaker's heart is filled by what she
sees around her: meadows, fields, clover, and bees. The Bloom, Harold, editor. Emily Dickinson. Bloom's Literary
speaker in "I taste a liquor never brewed—" goes further and is Criticism, 2008.
completely intoxicated by the dew, the air, and the blue of the
Johnson, Tamara. Readings on Emily Dickinson. Greenhaven,
sky. As a keen observer, however, she doesn't romanticize
1997.
nature: she not only loves nature but also describes it with
keen accuracy. In "A Bird, came down the Walk—" she clearly
Kirkby, Joan. Emily Dickinson. St. Martin's, 1991.
admires the bird's graceful movements but doesn't hesitate to
show him cruelly biting a worm in half before devouring it, nor Martin, Wendy, editor. The Cambridge Companion to Emily
does she shrink from describing the way a fly buzzes around a Dickinson. Cambridge UP, 2002.
soon-to-be corpse in "I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—."
Vendler, Helen. Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries.
Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 2012.
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Poems of Emily

cover a wide variety of subjects, it is her unique style that gives

a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 4

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 5 d In Context

g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 22 New England Roots

believed in. to publicly declare their allegiance to God. At least eight

Faith at these events. Dickinson, too, felt considerable social

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"Faith" is a fine invention

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Two swimmers wrestled on the There's a certain Slant of light,

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

Wild nights—Wild nights!

"Hope" is the thing with

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A Bird, came down the Walk— died—

Because I could not stop for

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journeys. She begins by asserting there is no ship better than a

My Life had stood—a Loaded

Tell all the Truth but tell it

There is no Frigate like a Book

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to be sure to "count" because she may forget to do so. In line 6

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understood not by those who have achieved it but by those

"Master" may have been, some believe it was Samuel Bowles,

The poem asserts that success is most appreciated and best

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She died—this was the way she "Faith" is a fine invention

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nights" and the anaphora, or repeated beginnings, of lines 7

The shorter line length of this poem helps emphasize the

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There's a certain Slant of light, I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

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Summary an unworthy "Somebody," who must spend considerable time

In this two-stanza poem in ballad meter, the speaker

This short, playful poem reflects the speaker's desire to remain

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Summary A Bird, came down the Walk—

might be: she will be "unmoved" even if an "Emperor" were to

This poem creates a picture of a soul, or an individual, who

no lover, friend, or ambition deserves dominion over it.

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After great pain, a formal

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knowledge and truth frequently depend on one's perspective.

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stanzas, in the fourth Dickinson finally uses full rhyme in the

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suggests the speaker has died, for she—and the carriage—has

Dickinson uses standard ballad meter in the first three stanzas,

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This poem describes a symbolic gun and its owner. Some

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Literature—"the Chariot / That bears the Human soul"—is an

Analysis — Narrator, I taste a liquor never brewed—

This poem is another example of what might be classified as a

The concept of success is best understood by those who do

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