860.1864.No Notice gave She, but a Change—
ED copied this poem into Fascicle 38 “about early 1864” (Franklin 1998}
No Notice gave She, but a Change—
No Message, but a Sigh—
For Whom, the Time did not suffice
That She should specify.
She was not warm, though Summer shone L5
Nor scrupulous of cold
Though Rime by Rime, the steady Frost
Upon Her Bosom piled—
Of shrinking ways—she did not fright
Though all the Village looked— L10
But held Her gravity aloft—
And met the gaze—direct—
And when adjusted like a Seed
In careful fitted Ground
Unto the Everlasting Spring L15
And hindered but a Mound
Her Warm return, if so she chose—
And We—imploring drew—
Removed our invitation by
As Some She never knew— L20
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A biographic interpretation of ‘No Notice gave She, but a Change—‘, F860:
Stanza 1.
No Notice gave She, but a Change—
No Message, but a Sigh—
For Whom, the Time did not suffice
That She should specify.
S1.
I gave no indication of why I changed, but change I did. I wrote no poems explaining why, but when I changed, I sighed. For whom I sighed, I don’t have the time to tell you.
Stanza 2.
She was not warm, though Summer shone Line 5
Nor scrupulous of cold
Though Rime by Rime, the steady Frost
Upon Her Bosom piled—
S2.
Though it was summer, I was not warm nor aware of being cold, even though layer after layer of hoarfrost piled deeper on my bosom.
Stanza 3.
Of shrinking ways—she did not fright
Though all the Village looked— L10
But held Her gravity aloft—
And met the gaze—direct—
S3.
“I wasn’t afraid of withdrawing into my father’s house, though all Amherst thought me strange. When people came to my front door, I met their gaze with my gaze — direct!”
Stanza 4.
And when adjusted like a Seed
In careful fitted Ground
Unto the Everlasting Spring L15
And hindered but a Mound
S4.
And when I intentionally withdrew into my house, I wanted to die. I wanted my soul to fly straight into God’s Heaven, but, unfortunately, my soul’s way was blocked by a mound.
Stanza 5.
Her Warm return, if so she chose—
And {Us}—imploring drew—
Removed our invitation by
As Some she never knew— L20
S5.
If I had wanted to return to a warm relationship with Amherst friends, I could have, but I didn’t. I stopped inviting visitors and, if they knocked at the front door, I acted as if I had never known them.
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Alternate Words or Phrase
ED suggested seven alternative words or phrases. I like all her originals except for one: In Line 18, I prefer her alternate word “Us” because “Some” is vague. I used “Us” in my biographic interpretation (above).
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Adam DeGraff’s Questions about Line 16, Stanza 4, on ‘The Prowling Bee’ blog:
On December 14, 2025 on TPB, Adam commented on ‘No Notice gave She, but a Change—’ and in his comment he asked two astonishing questions. Here is Stanza 4:
Stanza 4
“And when adjusted like a Seed
In careful fitted Ground
Unto the Everlasting Spring Line 15
And hindered but a Mound”
Adam’s questions are about Line 16: “And hindered but a Mound”:
[1] Could mound be a slant allusion to pregnancy?
[2] Has the narrator, the dead living woman, somehow hindered a pregnancy, or had her pregnancy hindered?
There is a third possibility:
[3] Has the “dead living woman” experienced a miscarriage?
Adam, I think correctly, identifies the “dead” woman as Emily Dickinson, so [take a deep breath], Adam is asking if Emily Dickinson was ever pregnant. Adam is not the first to ask this question.
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‘The Marriage of Emily Dickinson’ Shurr, W. H., 1983
In 1983, William H. Shurr published a controversial book, ‘The Marriage of Emily Dickinson’. His book must be anathema to academicians in their English Department Ivory Towers because it has been cited only six times over the last 43 years.
In the last subsection of the last chapter (pp, 171-193; Shurr saved the best for last), Shurr asks:
“Was Emily Dickinson ever pregnant? The question may offend for its too close inquiry into a private life, its too close linking of biography with poems. It cannot, however, be ruled out of literary analysis, as if there were a priori limitations to the subjects an author might be expected to treat, whether as real phenomena or as groundwork for a trope. The obligation of the reader is to remain open, attentive to whatever topics these poems bring forward. Is there still another event remaining to be considered, naturally linked to the marriage narrative we have been following [in the previous pages]?”
“In a chronological reading of Dickinson’s poems there is an important crux in the developing narrative. Early poems state resistance to, refusal of, sexual intercourse.”
“A private poem (J213, F134; ‘about late 1860’) did not find its way into the fascicles”:
“Did the Harebell loose her girdle
To the lover Bee
Would the Bee the Harebell hallow
Much as formerly?”
“Did the “Paradise”—persuaded—
Yield her moat of pearl—
Would the Eden be an Eden,
Or the Earl—an Earl?”
“[The Harebell] resists intercourse on the traditional grounds that the lover would lose his respect for her afterward, and for himself as well. The poem is dated by handwriting at “about [late] 1860”, the year of Wadsworth’s first visit.” (Shurr 1983)
Wadsworth’s visit to ‘Homestead’ occurred in summer 1860, and ED wrote this poem “about late 1860” (Franklin 1998).
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Almost all publications of ‘Did the Harebell loose her girdle’, including the publication in The Prowling Bee blog, ignore ED’s underlining of four words: Line 3, “hallow”; Line 5, “persuaded”; Line 7, “be”; and Line 8, the second “Earl”. These omissions deny the reader important information. ED intended those words to be emphasized, and I have used italics and bold font for these words in my interpretation of this poem. …………………………………………………………………………………………
My interpretation of ‘Did the Harebell loose her girdle’ [F134]:
Stanza 1.
Did the Harebell loose her girdle
To the lover Bee
Would the Bee the Harebell hallow
Much as formerly?
S1.
If the Harebell consented to sexual intercourse with lover Bee, would Bee still respect her in the morning?
Stanza 2.
“Did the “Paradise”—persuaded—
Yield her moat of pearl—
Would the Eden be an Eden,
Or the Earl—an Earl?”
S2.
If my vagina [paradise] were persuaded [or “seduced”] to yield its hymen [moat] to my lover, would our romantic love still exist, would my lover’s reputation be ruined?
No wonder ED did not put this poem into a fascicle!
ED’s “Earl” was a conservative Presbyterian minister from Philadelphia, Charles Wadsworth, who, a month or two before ED wrote this poem, visited her at Homestead at her invitation. For an explication of their evening’s activities, see F856, ‘I play at riches’:
https://ed-larryb.com/2026/08/856-1864-i-play-at-riches-to-appease/
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References:
(Shurr 1983) Franklin 1998
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Susan Kornfeld, the founder of ‘The Prowling Bee’, wrote a delightful explication of ‘Did the Harebell loose her girdle’ [F134]:
https://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/2011/11/f133-1860-213.html
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For an Eternity—
I fear me this Circumference
Engross my Finity’— To His exclusion, who prepare
By Processes of Size
For the Stupendous Vision
Of his diameters—
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My interpretation of ‘Time feels so vast that were it not’, F858:
Stanza 1.
Time feels so vast that were it not
For an Eternity—
I fear me this Circumference
Engross my Finity’—
S1.
[EDLex def. 4 of “Eternity”: Timelessness; all encompassing time, including before birth and after death. E.D. describes it as an ocean upon an ocean and yet a further ocean. J695, F720.]
Time goes on forever and were it not for eternity, I fear the hugeness of it all might engulf my simple sanity . . . [Stanza 1 enjambs with Stanza 2]
Stanza 2.
To His exclusion, who prepare
By {Rudiments} of Size
For the Stupendous Vision
Of his diameters—
S2.
. . . to my exclusion of God, who created our world increment by increment, and we are left with a “stupendous vision”: His wonders never cease.
[“Wonders never cease” is reminiscent of verses about God’s unending mercies, such as Lamentations 3:22–23 (“His mercies never come to an end”). Google AI]
Note: In Line 6, “{Rudiments}” in curly brackets is ED’s alternate word for “Processes”, and I prefer it because it feels more descriptive than vague “Processes”.
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Five EDLex definitions, all but the last capitalized in F858. A bunch words for such a short poem, but that’s ED for ya:
Eternity
1. Immortality; heaven; a period of time or state of being which the soul enters at death, which is never-ending.
2. Pre-existence; a period of time which occurred before birth, which has no beginning.
3. Endlessness; a space or period of time felt to be endless [more commonplace than def. D.]
4. Timelessness; all encompassing time, including before birth and after death. E.D. describes it as an ocean upon an ocean and yet a further ocean [see J695, F720]; [Spiritual connotations.]
Circumference
1. Navigation; circuit; circular motion; journey in a circular pattern; going around in circles; [fig.] wandering; migration; flight of departure and returning.
2. Horizon; periphery; the girth of the world; the circle of the earth’s globe; the whole circular surface of the earth including the sea and the land.
3. Zone; area; boundary; restriction; constraint; restraint; demarcation; delimitation; outer limit; the space included within a circle; [fig.] mortality; a lifetime; a succession of events; cycles of nature, mortality, and earth life.
4. Eternity; the ultimate reality; the life beyond; the all-encompassing circle of existence.
5. Edge of the sky; atmosphere which surrounds the earth; the sky as it encircles the globe; the cycles of air, wind, and clouds; the air currents which carry creatures in flight; the relationship of the earth to the sun.
6. Influence; sphere of action; [fig.] periphrasis; circumlocution; metaphorical extensions; lines of poetry; text in relation to context; connections that go beyond words; words as symbols for aspects of existence; meanings that lie within the limits of words; [fig.] polysemy; semantic connotations that go beyond the core meaning of a word; [metaphor] experience; reality; enlightenment; intelligence; revelation; inspiration; wisdom.
7. Perimeter; geometric line that bounds a circle; a single curved line that forms an encompassing boundary; the finite line that goes around in 360 degrees; the whole area enclosed by a circular line or spherical limit; the whole exterior surface of a round body; [fig.] experience; frontier; outlook.
8. Finitude; reality; exact dimensions of life; irrefutable aspects of reality; indisputable facts of existence; [paradox] infinitude; countless lines, planes, degrees, arcs, angles, diameters, projections, intersections, and repetitions of circles from a finite point.
9. Skull; round body; globe; spherical container.
10. Border; margin; diameter; [fig.] arc of space; projection linking separate entities; line connecting a single being to an experience in a certain place; [metaphor] memory; music beyond words; communication beyond eloquence.
11. Perspective; view; vista; ability to protract an infinite number of concentric circles from one specific point; [fig.] greater understanding; elevated awareness; broader view; expanded perception of life.
12. Comprehension; understanding; [personification] wonderful companion; cause of respect, admiration, and amazement.
13. Circumspection; discretion; cautiousness; secret realm; hidden core; inner vision; center of being; different way of perceiving.
Finity