Year: 2025

786.1877.Autumn — overlooked my Knitting —

ED’s alternate words and phrase in parentheses (Lines 3,4,6,8).

Autumn — overlooked my Knitting —
Dyes — said He — have I —
Could disparage (dishonor) a Flamingo —
Show Me them (Give them Me)— said I —

Cochineal — I chose — for deeming
It (That) resemble Thee —
And the little Border — Dusker —
For resembling (That resemble) Me —

In Stanza 1, I prefer ED’s original words, but I much prefer her alternate word and phrase in Stanza 2.

Capitalized “He” in Line 2 logically refers to Autumn but metaphorically may also refer to the referent of “Thee” in Line 6.

Capitalized “Thee” in Line 6 probably refers to ED’s revered “Master”, not “Autumn”, because “Thee” in Line 6 is probably Reverend Charles Wadsworth, whose brilliant words burned brighter in her mind than her “little Border — Dusker —”. Wadsworth’s mesmerizing sermons overfilled his churches every Sunday.

Since her death in 1886, ED too has filled her church of readers, and her words are not “Dusker”, despite her self-deprecating claim in Lines 7-8.

PS1:    It’s nice to see ED’s early infatuation with Wadsworth becoming a revered friendship that lasted until she died (JL1040 to Charles Clark, April 15, 1886).

PS2:    In contrast to American grammar, British grammar logically places commas outside quote marks unless they logically belong inside, which is my preference also. An example is [“Master”,] in the last paragraph of the above explication.

785.1863.It dropped so low — in my Regard —

It dropped so low — in my Regard —
I heard it hit the Ground —
And go to pieces on the Stones
At bottom of my Mind —

Yet blamed the Fate that flung it — less
Than I denounced Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon My Silver Shelf —

ED’s original 1863 ink copy in Fascicle 37 and 1880 penciled alternatives in parentheses:

It dropped so low — in my Regard —
I heard it hit the Ground —
And go to pieces on the Stones
At bottom of my Mind — (in the ditch)

Yet blamed the Fate that fractured (flung it) — less
Than I reviled (denounced) Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon My Silver Shelf —

For the first time, ED did not copy her alternative words and phrases in ink at the same time she copied her poem. Instead, she waited 17 years (1880) and then penciled her alternatives between her original ink lines.

Both Johnson (1955, ‘Complete Poems’) and Franklin (1998, ‘Poems of Emily Dickinson’) published Line 4 without using ED’s 1880 alternate phrase, which was their standard protocol, but they published her 1880 alternates in Lines 5 and 6, which was definitely not their usual protocol. They may have been “protecting Emily” by ignoring protocol in Lines 5 and 6 and not in Line 4. Whatever their reasons, they improved her poem:

Original Stanza 1 sounds better than

“It dropped so low — in my Regard —
I heard it hit the Ground —
And go to pieces (in the Ditch)
At bottom of my Mind —”

And modified Stanza 2 sounds better than her original (above):

“Yet blamed the Fate that (flung it) — less
Than I (denounced) Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon My Silver Shelf —”

Line 6, “Than I reviled myself”, may reveal how ED felt in 1863, but apparently she had mellowed by 1880.

The postcendant of “It” (Line 1) is “Plated Wares” (Line 7), a metaphor for “anything you once fell for” but no longer revere (Adam DeGraff, AKA d. scribe). “It” may be ED’s adolescent romantic infatuation (at age 25-32) with Rev. Charles Wadsworth, which I think is the seed of this poem, or the unfinished quality of the poem itself, which ED apparently realized in 1880, or, something else.

There must be a reason ED would juxtapose this poem, F785 (Poem 13), an initially flawed text but objective truism, with F784 (Poem 12), a “Mulling Suicide” poem that seems a painful cry for help,  Perhaps she’s reminding herself of where she’s been (sidetracked by infatuation, “Plated Wares”) and where she wants to go (poetic immortality). It’s inconceivable to me she composed these two poems contemporaneously, despite their copied  juxtaposition in Fascicle 37 and identical estimated copy dates (“about late 1863”).

784.1863.I sometimes drop it, for a Quick –

 I  sometimes drop it, for a Quick –
The Thought to be alive –
Anonymous Delight to know –
And Madder – to conceive –

A Reef – crawled easy from the Sea
Eats off the Brittle Line –
The Sailor doesn’t know the Stroke –
Until He’s past the Pain –

“Delirium – diverts the Wretch / For Whom the Scaffold neighs –”:

Occam’s Razor suggests “neighs –” is simply ED’s notorious misspelling of “nighs”.

ED’s father championed building “Insane Asylums”, a euphemism for “Mad House”, as they were then termed. Good thing he didn’t see ED’s poem, which we might dub ‘Mulling Suicide’.

An interpretation of ‘I sometimes drop it, for a Quick –’:

ED offers no alternate words. Parenthesized words are definitions from ED Lexicon; square brackets are my edits.

I sometimes drop [mulling suicide], for a Quick [respite from Wo] –
The Thought to be alive  –
(Unknown) Delight to know –
And (Insaner)– to conceive –

[“The Thought to be alive”] (Relieves) a Wo so monstrous
That did it (weep) all Day
Without an instant’s Respite –
[Death would look too far – to wait – ]

(Insanity) – diverts the Wretch
For Whom the Scaffold neighs [nighs]
The Hammock’s motion lulls the Heads
So close on Paradise –

(Adversity) – crawled easy from the Sea
Eats off the (Feeble Cable) –
The Sailor doesn’t know the (End) –
Until He’s past the Pain –

I think the postcendant of “It” (Line 1) is “Plated Wares” (Line 7), a metaphor for “anything you once fell for” but no longer revere (Adam DeGraff, AKA, d. scribe). “It” may be ED’s adolescent romantic infatuation (at age 25-32) with Rev. Charles Wadsworth, which I think is the seed of this poem, or the unfinished quality of the poem itself, which ED apparently realized in 1880.

There is a reason ED would juxtapose in Fascicle 37 this poem, F785 (Poem 13), an initially flawed text but objective truism, with F784 (Poem 12), a painful cry for help, a “Mulling Suicide” poem. It’s inconceivable to me she composed these two poems contemporaneously, despite their consecutive positions and estimated copy date (about late 1863). Perhaps she’s reminding herself of where she’s been sidetracked by infatuation, “Plated Wares”, and where she wants to go, poetic immortality.

783.1863. Never for Society

 ED’s alternative words in parentheses

 Never for Society
He shall seek in vain—
Who His own acquaintance
Cultivate—Of Men

Wiser Men (One, Ear) may weary—
But the Man within
Never knew Satiety—
Better (Braver) entertain

Than could Border Ballad—
Or Biscayan Hymn—
Neither introduction.
Need You—unto Him—

I prefer ED’s published words in both lines with alternates, L5 & L8.

Adam DeGraff, blogmeister of The Prowling Bee, provides an excellent explication of this poem, especially his sentence:

“A majority of the poems written before this one in Dickinson’s oeuvre exhibit a painful yearning for a Beloved. In this one the Beloved has been internalized as Self” marks a watershed moment.”

ED probably paired this poem, Fr783 (Fascicle 37 Poem 11), with the previous one, ‘Renunciation—is a piercing Virtue—’ (Fr782, Fascicle 37 Poem 10), as a celebration of this watershed moment. She pledges herself as only she could, encrypted with a pronoun switch:

Renunciation—is the Choosing
Against itself [myself]—
Itself [myself] to justify
Unto itself [myself]—

782.1863. Renunciation—is a piercing Virtue—

ED’s alternate words in parentheses:

Renunciation—is a piercing Virtue—
The letting go
A Presence—for an Expectation—
Not now—
The putting out of Eyes—
Just Sunrise—
Lest Day—
Day’s Great Progenitor—
Outvie (Outshow, Outglow)
Renunciation—is the Choosing
Against itself—
Itself to justify
Unto itself—
When larger function—
Make that appear—
Smaller—that Covered (flooded, sated) Vision—Here—

Lines 10-16 of this poem declare ED’s allegiance to poetry and her decision to forgo future marital ambitions.

Lines L10-L13 disguise ED by a favorite ploy, switching pronouns. Uncamouflaged, I think ED’s lines read:

“Renunciation is the choosing
Against [myself,]
[Myself] to justify
Unto [myself.]”

This poem (Fr782) is Emily Dickinson’s “Declaration of Letting Go”, that is, “letting go” of her pathological obsession with Charles Wadsworth and henceforward dedicating her life to her “Vision”, writing immortal poems. If so, she may have a problem: Wadsworth was her main muse.

For a fuller explanation of the biographical history between ED and Wadsworth, see “Biographic History of Emily Dickinson and Reverend Charles Wadsworth” on my blog,

I think Fr782 consists of four complete sentences. Here’s my interpretation of Fr782 with ED’s alternate words in (parentheses) and EDLexicon definitions in <angle brackets>:

1. Renunciation is a <painful> virtue, the letting go of an <emotion> for a <hope>.
2. Not now abandoning my vision of being a poet, but rebirth of my vision, lest infatuation, love’s great progenitor, outglow my vision of being a poet.
3. Renunciation is the choosing against myself, myself to justify unto myself.
4. When larger vision makes that infatuation appear smaller, then larger vision has won.

True to her “Declaration” to remain single, in 1878, when a real suitor, retired Massachusetts Supreme Court Chief Justice Otis Phillips Lord, asked her hand in marriage, or at least some mutually satisfying relationship, such as connubial partnership, ED said “No” (JL562)

“Remorse — is Memory — awake —
Her Parties all (Companies) astir —
A Presence of Departed Acts —
At window — and at Door —

Its Past — set down before the Soul
And lighted with a Match —
Perusal — to facilitate —
And help Belief to stretch — (Of it’s Condensed Despatch —)

Remorse is cureless — the Disease
Not even God — can heal —
For ’tis His institution — and
The Adequate (Complement) of Hell —”

ED’s alternate words and phrases are in parentheses. I prefer ED’s original “Parties all” (Line 2) because of its legal implications, ED’s alternate “Of its Condensed Despatch” (Line 8) because of the subject-verb-direct object construction of “Match facilitates Perusal of the Despatch”, and her alternate “Complement”, (Line 12) because of its parallelism with “Hell”.

Definitions from EDLex and OED:

L1 – Remorse: Sorrow; anguish; grief; regret; guilt; pain
L1 – Memory: Past events; former experiences stored in the mind.
L2 – Parties: Opposing sides in a dispute
L6 – Lighted: To provide light (OED)
L8 – Condensed: Collected
L8 – Despatch: A written message sent off promptly (OED, def. II.8)
L11 – Institution: Establishment
L12 – Complement: Equivalent

I think the pronouns, “Her” (Line 2), “Its” (Line 5), and “It’s” (alternate Line 8), refer to “Memory”.

ED’s alternate Line 8 in Stanza 2, “Of it’s Condensed Despatch”, leaves us puzzling over ED’s meaning of the word “Despatch”. Occasionally during the 19^th century, publications used the noun “despatch” to mean “A written message . . . ” (OED, def. II.8). Given the context of alternate Line 8, I think this is what ED meant by “its [Memory’s] condensed despatch”.

Here are my takes on Stanzas 1-3 in prose sentences, ED’s spelling corrected, my choice of ED’s alternatives in parentheses, and my emendations in brackets:

1. Remorse is memory awake, her parties all astir, the presence of departed acts at window and at door.
2. Its [Memory’s] past set down before the soul and lighted with a match, perusal to facilitate of its [Memory’s] condensed Despatch.
3. Remorse is cureless, the disease not even God can heal, for ’tis His institution, and the [earthly] complement of Hell.

‘Remorse — is Memory — awake —’ (F781) can be read as personal or universal. We’ve all said or done things we wish we hadn’t. Taken to extreme, we obsess in a woulda-coulda-shoulda spiral that goes nowhere. But poems don’t come from nowhere, they germinate from seed. I think the seed(s) for this poem was/were (1) Sue’s post-engagement estrangement from ED and/or (2) ED’s perceived abandonment by Reverend Charles Wadsworth when he and his family sailed from New York to San Francisco on May 1, 1862.

(1): ED’s remorse may stem from an unwise break-up letter she sent Susan Gilbert (Dickinson) on August 1, 1854 (JL173). Sue Gilbert and Austin Dickinson had announced their engagement in March 1853, and, after their engagement, Sue naturally shifted her attention from ED to Austin, leading ED to pen the breakup letter:

“………….. Sue – you can go or stay – There is but one alternative – We differ often lately, and this must be the last.
………….

“We have walked very pleasantly – Perhaps this is the point at which our paths diverge – then [I] pass on singing Sue, and up the distant hill I journey on………..”

(2): We don’t know what ED’s assumptions were about Wadsworth’s reason for leaving the east coast, but she reacted with poems ranging from (1) blaming, to (2) pleading, to (3) forgiving, and, 17 years later, to (4) inquiring how he was faring (Asterisks indicate poems that include ED’s codename for Wadsworth, “Calvary”):

1. Blaming (‘Take your Heaven further on —’, F672, second half of 1862,),
2. Pleading (‘A Tongue – to tell Him I am true!’, F673, second half 1863),
3. Forgiving (‘That I always did love’, F652, second half 1863)*; (‘Tis true – They shut me in the Cold’, F658, second half 1863),
4. Inquiring (‘Spurn the temerity’, F1485, 1879)*.

Asterisks (*) indicate poems that include ED’s codename for Wadsworth, “Calvary”.

Wadsworth’s real reason for leaving Philadelphia stemmed from friction with his congregation over whether the Bible condoned slavery. He believed it did and most of them did not. Civil War fever ran hot, and Wadsworth resigned from his pulpit of 12 years, despite his enormous success at filling pews.

ED was probably unaware of his real motivation and assumed he had simply abandoned her. She was wrong, hence the remorse expressed in this poem, and many others. For a fuller explanation of the biographical history between ED and Wadsworth, see comments on ‘ED-LarryB’ blog:

Biographic History of ED and Reverend Charles Wadsworth

652.1863.That I did always love