{"id":111,"date":"2021-06-04T16:29:05","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T20:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/?post_type=chapter&p=111"},"modified":"2022-02-15T12:11:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T17:11:03","slug":"emily-dickinson","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/chapter\/emily-dickinson\/","title":{"raw":"Emily Dickinson","rendered":"Emily Dickinson"},"content":{"raw":"

I\u2019m Nobody! Who are you?<\/h1>\r\nI'm nobody! Who are you?\r\nAre you nobody, too?\r\nThen there's a pair of us--don't tell!\r\nThey'd banish us, you know.\r\n\r\nHow dreary to be somebody!\r\nHow public, like a frog\r\nTo tell your name the livelong day\r\nTo an admiring bog!\r\n

I heard a Fly buzz\u2014when I died<\/h1>\r\nI heard a fly buzz when I died;\r\nThe stillness round my form\r\nWas like the stillness in the air\r\nBetween the heaves of storm.\r\n\r\nThe eyes beside had wrung them dry,\r\nAnd breaths were gathering sure\r\nFor that last onset, when the king\r\nBe witnessed in his power.\r\n\r\nI willed my keepsakes, signed away\r\nWhat portion of me I\r\nCould make assignable,-and then\r\nThere interposed a fly,\r\n\r\nWith blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,\r\nBetween the light and me;\r\nAnd then the windows failed, and then\r\nI could not see to see.\r\n

The heart asks Pleasure\u2014first<\/h1>\r\nThe Heart asks Pleasure\u2014first\u2014\r\nAnd then\u2014Excuse from Pain\u2014\r\nAnd then\u2014those little Anodynes\r\nThat deaden suffering\u2014\r\n\r\nAnd then\u2014to go to sleep\u2014\r\nAnd then\u2014if it should be\r\nThe will of its Inquisitor\r\nThe privilege to die\u2014\r\n

I felt a funeral, in my Brain<\/h1>\r\nI felt a Funeral, in my Brain,\r\nAnd Mourners to and fro\r\nKept treading\u2014treading\u2014till it seemed\r\nThat Sense was breaking through\u2014\r\n\r\nAnd when they all were seated,\r\nA Service, like a Drum\u2014\r\nKept beating\u2014beating\u2014till I thought\r\nMy Mind was going numb\u2014\r\n\r\nAnd then I heard them lift a Box\r\nAnd creak across my Soul\r\nWith those same Boots of Lead, again,\r\nThen Space\u2014began to toll,\r\n\r\nAs all the Heavens were a Bell,\r\nAnd Being, but an Ear,\r\nAnd I, and Silence, some strange Race\r\nWrecked, solitary, here\u2014\r\n\r\nAnd then a Plank in Reason, broke,\r\nAnd I dropped down, and down\u2014\r\nAnd hit a World, at every plunge,\r\nAnd Finished knowing\u2014then\u2014\r\n

I died for Beauty\u2014but was scarce<\/h1>\r\nI died for beauty, but was scarce\r\nAdjusted in the tomb,\r\nWhen one who died for truth was lain\r\nIn an adjoining room.He questioned softly why I failed?\r\n\"For beauty,\" I replied.\r\n\"And I for truth,--the two are one;\r\nWe brethren are,\" he said.\r\n\r\nAnd so, as kinsmen met a night,\r\nWe talked between the rooms.\r\nUntil the moss had reached our lips,\r\nAnd covered up our names.\r\n

Because I could not stop for Death<\/h1>\r\nBecause I could not stop for Death\u2014\r\nHe kindly stopped for me\u2014\r\nThe Carriage held but just Ourselves\u2014\r\nAnd Immortality.\r\n\r\nWe slowly drove\u2014He knew no haste\r\nAnd I had put away\r\nMy labor and my leisure too,\r\nFor His Civility\u2014\r\n\r\nWe passed the School, where Children strove\r\nAt Recess\u2014in the Ring\u2014\r\nWe passed the Fields of Gazing Grain\u2014\r\nWe passed the Setting Sun\u2014\r\n\r\nOr rather\u2014He passed Us\u2014\r\nThe Dews drew quivering and chill\u2014\r\nFor only Gossamer, my Gown\u2014\r\nMy Tippet\u2014only Tulle\u2014\r\n\r\nWe paused before a House that seemed\r\nA Swelling of the Ground\u2014\r\nThe Roof was scarcely visible\u2014\r\nThe Cornice\u2014in the Ground\u2014\r\n\r\nSince then\u2014'tis Centuries\u2014and yet\r\nFeels shorter than the Day\r\nI first surmised the Horses' Heads\r\nWere toward Eternity\u2014\r\n

My Life had stood\u2014a Loaded Gun<\/h1>\r\nMy Life had stood \u2014 a Loaded Gun \u2014\r\nIn Corners \u2014 till a Day\r\nThe Owner passed \u2014 identified \u2014\r\nAnd carried Me away \u2014\r\n\r\nAnd now We roam in Sovereign Woods \u2014\r\nAnd now We hunt the Doe \u2014\r\nAnd every time I speak for Him \u2014\r\nThe Mountains straight reply \u2014\r\n\r\nAnd do I smile, such cordial light\r\nUpon the Valley glow \u2014\r\nIt is as a Vesuvian face\r\nHad let its pleasure through \u2014\r\n\r\nAnd when at Night \u2014 Our good Day done \u2014\r\nI guard My Master's Head \u2014\r\n'Tis better than the Eider-Duck's\r\nDeep Pillow \u2014 to have shared \u2014\r\n\r\nTo foe of His \u2014 I'm deadly foe \u2014\r\nNone stir the second time \u2014\r\nOn whom I lay a Yellow Eye \u2014\r\nOr an emphatic Thumb \u2014\r\n\r\nThough I than He \u2014 may longer live\r\nHe longer must \u2014 than I \u2014\r\nFor I have but the power to kill,\r\nWithout \u2014 the power to die \u2014\r\n

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass<\/h1>\r\nA narrow fellow in the grass\r\nOccasionally rides;\r\nYou may have met him\u2014did you not\r\nHis notice instant is,\r\nThe grass divides as with a comb,\r\nA spotted shaft is seen,\r\nAnd then it closes at your feet,\r\nAnd opens further on.\r\n\r\nHe likes a boggy acre\r\nA floor too cool for corn,\r\nYet when a boy and barefoot,\r\nI more than once at noon\r\nHave passed, I thought, a whip lash,\r\nUnbraiding in the sun,\r\nWhen stooping to secure it,\r\nIt wrinkled and was gone.\r\n\r\nSeveral of nature's people\r\nI know, and they know me;\r\nI feel for them a transport\r\nOf cordiality.\r\nYet never met this fellow,\r\nAttended or alone,\r\nWithout a tighter breathing,\r\nAnd zero at the bone\r\n

This World is not Conclusion<\/h1>\r\nThis World is not Conclusion.\r\nA Species stands beyond \u2014\r\nInvisible, as Music \u2014\r\nBut positive, as Sound \u2014\r\nIt beckons, and it baffles \u2014\r\nPhilosophy \u2014 don't know \u2014\r\nAnd through a Riddle, at the last \u2014\r\nSagacity, must go \u2014\r\nTo guess it, puzzles scholars \u2014\r\nTo gain it, Men have borne\r\nContempt of Generations\r\nAnd Crucifixion, shown \u2014\r\nFaith slips \u2014 and laughs, and rallies \u2014\r\nBlushes, if any see \u2014\r\nPlucks at a twig of Evidence \u2014\r\nAnd asks a Vane, the way \u2014\r\nMuch Gesture, from the Pulpit \u2014\r\nStrong Hallelujahs roll \u2014\r\nNarcotics cannot still the Tooth\r\nThat nibbles at the soul \u2014\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n

Sources<\/h2>\r\n\u201cI\u2019m Nobody! Who are you?\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poets.org.<\/a>\r\n\r\n\u201cI heard a Fly buzz\u2014when I died\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe heart asks Pleasure\u2014first\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from The Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\"I felt a funeral, in my Brain\" by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cI died for Beauty\u2014but was scarce\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Emily Dickinson Archive<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cBecause I could not stop for Death\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cMy Life had stood\u2014a Loaded Gun\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cA Narrow Fellow in the Grass\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis World is not Conclusion\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.","rendered":"

I\u2019m Nobody! Who are you?<\/h1>\n

I’m nobody! Who are you?
\nAre you nobody, too?
\nThen there’s a pair of us–don’t tell!
\nThey’d banish us, you know.<\/p>\n

How dreary to be somebody!
\nHow public, like a frog
\nTo tell your name the livelong day
\nTo an admiring bog!<\/p>\n

I heard a Fly buzz\u2014when I died<\/h1>\n

I heard a fly buzz when I died;
\nThe stillness round my form
\nWas like the stillness in the air
\nBetween the heaves of storm.<\/p>\n

The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
\nAnd breaths were gathering sure
\nFor that last onset, when the king
\nBe witnessed in his power.<\/p>\n

I willed my keepsakes, signed away
\nWhat portion of me I
\nCould make assignable,-and then
\nThere interposed a fly,<\/p>\n

With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
\nBetween the light and me;
\nAnd then the windows failed, and then
\nI could not see to see.<\/p>\n

The heart asks Pleasure\u2014first<\/h1>\n

The Heart asks Pleasure\u2014first\u2014
\nAnd then\u2014Excuse from Pain\u2014
\nAnd then\u2014those little Anodynes
\nThat deaden suffering\u2014<\/p>\n

And then\u2014to go to sleep\u2014
\nAnd then\u2014if it should be
\nThe will of its Inquisitor
\nThe privilege to die\u2014<\/p>\n

I felt a funeral, in my Brain<\/h1>\n

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
\nAnd Mourners to and fro
\nKept treading\u2014treading\u2014till it seemed
\nThat Sense was breaking through\u2014<\/p>\n

And when they all were seated,
\nA Service, like a Drum\u2014
\nKept beating\u2014beating\u2014till I thought
\nMy Mind was going numb\u2014<\/p>\n

And then I heard them lift a Box
\nAnd creak across my Soul
\nWith those same Boots of Lead, again,
\nThen Space\u2014began to toll,<\/p>\n

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
\nAnd Being, but an Ear,
\nAnd I, and Silence, some strange Race
\nWrecked, solitary, here\u2014<\/p>\n

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
\nAnd I dropped down, and down\u2014
\nAnd hit a World, at every plunge,
\nAnd Finished knowing\u2014then\u2014<\/p>\n

I died for Beauty\u2014but was scarce<\/h1>\n

I died for beauty, but was scarce
\nAdjusted in the tomb,
\nWhen one who died for truth was lain
\nIn an adjoining room.He questioned softly why I failed?
\n“For beauty,” I replied.
\n“And I for truth,–the two are one;
\nWe brethren are,” he said.<\/p>\n

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
\nWe talked between the rooms.
\nUntil the moss had reached our lips,
\nAnd covered up our names.<\/p>\n

Because I could not stop for Death<\/h1>\n

Because I could not stop for Death\u2014
\nHe kindly stopped for me\u2014
\nThe Carriage held but just Ourselves\u2014
\nAnd Immortality.<\/p>\n

We slowly drove\u2014He knew no haste
\nAnd I had put away
\nMy labor and my leisure too,
\nFor His Civility\u2014<\/p>\n

We passed the School, where Children strove
\nAt Recess\u2014in the Ring\u2014
\nWe passed the Fields of Gazing Grain\u2014
\nWe passed the Setting Sun\u2014<\/p>\n

Or rather\u2014He passed Us\u2014
\nThe Dews drew quivering and chill\u2014
\nFor only Gossamer, my Gown\u2014
\nMy Tippet\u2014only Tulle\u2014<\/p>\n

We paused before a House that seemed
\nA Swelling of the Ground\u2014
\nThe Roof was scarcely visible\u2014
\nThe Cornice\u2014in the Ground\u2014<\/p>\n

Since then\u2014’tis Centuries\u2014and yet
\nFeels shorter than the Day
\nI first surmised the Horses’ Heads
\nWere toward Eternity\u2014<\/p>\n

My Life had stood\u2014a Loaded Gun<\/h1>\n

My Life had stood \u2014 a Loaded Gun \u2014
\nIn Corners \u2014 till a Day
\nThe Owner passed \u2014 identified \u2014
\nAnd carried Me away \u2014<\/p>\n

And now We roam in Sovereign Woods \u2014
\nAnd now We hunt the Doe \u2014
\nAnd every time I speak for Him \u2014
\nThe Mountains straight reply \u2014<\/p>\n

And do I smile, such cordial light
\nUpon the Valley glow \u2014
\nIt is as a Vesuvian face
\nHad let its pleasure through \u2014<\/p>\n

And when at Night \u2014 Our good Day done \u2014
\nI guard My Master’s Head \u2014
\n‘Tis better than the Eider-Duck’s
\nDeep Pillow \u2014 to have shared \u2014<\/p>\n

To foe of His \u2014 I’m deadly foe \u2014
\nNone stir the second time \u2014
\nOn whom I lay a Yellow Eye \u2014
\nOr an emphatic Thumb \u2014<\/p>\n

Though I than He \u2014 may longer live
\nHe longer must \u2014 than I \u2014
\nFor I have but the power to kill,
\nWithout \u2014 the power to die \u2014<\/p>\n

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass<\/h1>\n

A narrow fellow in the grass
\nOccasionally rides;
\nYou may have met him\u2014did you not
\nHis notice instant is,
\nThe grass divides as with a comb,
\nA spotted shaft is seen,
\nAnd then it closes at your feet,
\nAnd opens further on.<\/p>\n

He likes a boggy acre
\nA floor too cool for corn,
\nYet when a boy and barefoot,
\nI more than once at noon
\nHave passed, I thought, a whip lash,
\nUnbraiding in the sun,
\nWhen stooping to secure it,
\nIt wrinkled and was gone.<\/p>\n

Several of nature’s people
\nI know, and they know me;
\nI feel for them a transport
\nOf cordiality.
\nYet never met this fellow,
\nAttended or alone,
\nWithout a tighter breathing,
\nAnd zero at the bone<\/p>\n

This World is not Conclusion<\/h1>\n

This World is not Conclusion.
\nA Species stands beyond \u2014
\nInvisible, as Music \u2014
\nBut positive, as Sound \u2014
\nIt beckons, and it baffles \u2014
\nPhilosophy \u2014 don’t know \u2014
\nAnd through a Riddle, at the last \u2014
\nSagacity, must go \u2014
\nTo guess it, puzzles scholars \u2014
\nTo gain it, Men have borne
\nContempt of Generations
\nAnd Crucifixion, shown \u2014
\nFaith slips \u2014 and laughs, and rallies \u2014
\nBlushes, if any see \u2014
\nPlucks at a twig of Evidence \u2014
\nAnd asks a Vane, the way \u2014
\nMuch Gesture, from the Pulpit \u2014
\nStrong Hallelujahs roll \u2014
\nNarcotics cannot still the Tooth
\nThat nibbles at the soul \u2014<\/p>\n

\n

Sources<\/h2>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Nobody! Who are you?\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poets.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI heard a Fly buzz\u2014when I died\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heart asks Pleasure\u2014first\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from The Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I felt a funeral, in my Brain” by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI died for Beauty\u2014but was scarce\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Emily Dickinson Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I could not stop for Death\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Life had stood\u2014a Loaded Gun\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Narrow Fellow in the Grass\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis World is not Conclusion\u201d by Emily Dickinson is in the public domain. This version was retrieved from Poetry Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-111","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":28,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/111\/revisions\/266"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/28"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/111\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/poetryandpoetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}