811.1864.There is a June when Corn is cut

ED’s alternate word in parentheses. My word interpretations in brackets.

There is a June when Corn is cut
And Roses in the Seed—
A Summer briefer than the first
But tenderer indeed

As should a Face supposed the Grave’s
Emerge a single Noon
In the Vermilion that it wore
Affect us, and return—

Two Seasons, it is said, exist—
The Summer of the Just
And this of Ours, diversified
With Prospect [Expected joy], and with Frost [Pain] —

May not our Second with its First
So infinite compare
That We but recollect the one
The other to prefer (adore)?

Stanza 1

In western Massachusetts, corn (maize) was harvested in late summer/early autumn, not June, which is the clue that this poem is about Indian Summer, a period of warm, sunny, and dry weather that occurs in the autumn, usually after the first frost. Though brief, Indian Summer resurrects fleeting feelings of summertime, which ED described as “tenderer indeed”.

Stanza 2

A memory of a ruddy-cheeked face that ED thought she’d never see again appeared for a single “Noon”, woke memories of a “summer’s day” (perhaps Fr325, 1862?) in 1860, then vanished into time. For ED, that face was Wadsworth’s.

So much for Stanzas 1-2, but then along comes Stanza 3, which adds some boundaries to our interpretations [brackets mine]:

Stanza 3

Two Seasons, it is said, exist—
The Summer of the Just
And this of Ours, diversified
With Prospect [Expected joy], and with Frost [Pain] —

ED’s “First” summer was her “Summer of the Just” (Line 10), where “Just” means “perfected ones; those made whole” [EDLex, Definition 2 of “Just”].

ED realized that Indian Summer, her earthly “Second” summer, would be “diversified / With Prospect [Expected Joy], and with Frost [Pain]”, but she felt that “Frost” on Earth would be worth enduring when she finally arrives at her Heavenly “Second” summer with Wadsworth:

“. . . we shall rise—
Deposed—at length—the Grave—
To that new Marriage—
Justified—through Calvaries of Love!”

‘There came a Day—at Summer’s full’, Fr325, Stanza 7

Stanza 4

“May not our Second [“Summer”] with its First
So infinite compare
That We but recollect the one [the first summer]
The other to prefer?”

This poem, ‘There is a June when Corn is cut’ (F811), got me wondering how many “Indian Summer” poems ED composed. The answer is at least nine:

F122 ‘These are the days when Birds come back’
2. F265 ‘It cant be “Summer”!’
3. F363 ‘I know a place where Summer strives’
4. F408 ‘Like some Old fashioned Miracle’
5. F520 ‘God made a little Gentian’
6. F811 ‘There is a June when Corn is cut’
7. F1412 ‘How know it from a Summer’s Day?’
8. F1419 ‘A – Field of Stubble, lying sere’
9. F1457 ‘Summer has two Beginnings‘

My primary source for finding eight of these poem titles was ‘Emily Dickinson: Notes on All Her Poems’ by David Preest, which was available free on the Internet until a few years ago. Tom C added the ninth in his comment of October 1, 2025, on The Prowling Bee ( ‘There is a June when Corn is cut’, F811)

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After commenting on Poems 1-763 (Franklin) on The Prowling Bee’, I am convinced that (virtually) all of Emily Dickinson’s (ED’s) poems have a factual historical level in addition to their various poetic levels of meaning. The reason for her instant and continuing public adulation (1890 - present) was and is, by far, poetic. She is one of the "Greats" that she always dreamed to be, despite her lifelong refusal to publish. That refusal freed her from criticism and allowed her to explore the outer boundaries of poetic power.

More than a century of scholarly research has resulted in somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 books and published academic papers about ED. A large majority of these publications focus only on the “poetic levels” of one or more of ED’s poems. Publications that consider both the “historic level” and “poetic levels” comprise a small minority. Publications that focus only on the factual history of her life probably number less than 100. (All numbers in this paragraph are my estimates.)

Unfortunately for ED’s universe of readers, these two basic levels (historical and poetic) cannot be separated into two ivory towers. Every history-level publication that I know of includes at least some discussion of the poetic level(s).

The reverse is not true. In fact, authors of the “poetry-level” school seem to avoid commenting on the historical level, sometimes admonishing that a poem must stand on its own, without concern for its historical roots. To my knowledge, there are (virtually) no published “history-level” books or articles that totally ignore ED’s poems and their poetic levels.

Of course, ED’s refusal to publish her poems was only possible because of lifelong financial and daily social/housekeeping support by her family, especially her father and sister, respectively. In addition, throughout her life, the Dickinsons hired servants, first Negro and later Irish, some of whom became much more than housekeepers for ED.

My point is that our appreciation of ED's poems can be enhanced by understanding both poetic and historical levels of her sound and sense. We impoverish ourselves if we ignore their historical base.