LarryB

180.ED’s  ‘Ebon Box’

“Historical records indicate that Emily Dickinson’s famous ebony box was given her by George Henry Gould, a close friend and confidant she met while they were both young adults in Amherst.

“Gould gifted her the dark wooden box in 1850. It became a personal repository where she quietly stored her private correspondence and hand-sewn packets of poems. After Dickinson died in 1886, her sister Lavinia inherited the chest and discovered the massive cache of nearly 1,800 poems inside, eventually leading to their publication.”
(Google AI Overview)

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This black scarred box is the one Harvard eventually acquired in 1950. From the photo, it’s dimensions appear to be about 12”x12”x18”.

https://iraf.substack.com/p/dickinson-stops-the-clocks#:~:text=Dickinson%20Stops%20the,it%20was%20%E2%80%9Calive.%E2%80%9D

“Historical records indicate that Emily Dickinson’s famous ebony box was gifted to her by George Henry Gould, a close friend and confidant she met while they were both young adults in Amherst.

“Gould gifted her the dark wooden box in 1850. It became a personal repository where she quietly stored her private correspondence and hand-sewn packets of poems. After Dickinson died in 1886, her sister Lavinia inherited the chest and discovered the massive cache of nearly 1,800 poems inside, eventually leading to their publication.”
(Google AI Overview)

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For a fuller explanation of its circuitous journey before it was given to Harvard, see:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLaMDv_tx3-/

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JL189. To John Long Graves, August 1856

“Ah John – Gone? Then I lift the lid to my box of Phantoms, and lay another in, unto the Resurrection – Then will I gather in Paradise, the blossoms fallen here, and on the shores of the sea of Light, seek my missing sands.

Your Coz – Emilie –“

Dickinson, Emily. The Letters of Emily Dickinson (p. 267). Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition.

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“Emily Dickinson was not referring to the physical death of John Long Graves. Instead, the “event” was his permanent departure from Amherst when he moved away to become the principal of Orford Academy in New Hampshire. This physical separation prompted Dickinson to express deep melancholy, likening her absent friends to memories or “phantoms” in her emotional memory box” (Google AI, downloaded 6/4/2026)

134.1860.Did the Harebell loose her girdle

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?
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””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’

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?
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ED copied neither this poem (F134) nor the preceding F133, ‘Mute – thy Coronation —’, into her fascicles even though she copied other poems of this vintage into fascicles.
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Almost all publications of this poem 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.
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A chronological timeline places this poem at a critical and vulnerable interval of ED’s life:

1855 March – ED, age 24, attends one of Rev. Wadsworth’s sermons and falls in love with him, from a distance.

1860 March – Rev. Charles Wadsworth visits ED in Amherst.

1860 “Second half” (Franklin) – ED composes ‘Mute — thy Coronation (F133)’

1860 “Second half” (Franklin) – ED composes ‘Did the harebell loose her girdle (F134)’

1861 Early – ED drafts the second surviving “Master” letter

1861 Summer – ED drafts the third surviving “Master” letter

Reverend Wadsworth (1814-1882) was a charismatic Presbyterian pastor at a large church in Philadelphia. He was 16 years older than ED, married and had two children.
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Given the chronological timeline, Wadsworth was probably the intended recipient of the three “Master Letters” and the protagonist of F133 and F134.

Reverend Wadsworth’s response to one ED’s letters shows deep concern for her mental and emotional condition:

“My Dear Miss Dickenson [sic]

“I am distressed beyond measure at your note, received this moment, – I can only imagine the affliction which has befallen, or is now befalling you.

“Believe me, be what it may, you have all my sympathy, and my constant, earnest prayers.

“I am very, very anxious to learn more definitely of your trial- and though I have no right to intrude upon your sorrow yet I beg you to write me, though it be but a word.

“In great haste
Sincerely and most
Affectionately Yours –“

The manuscript is unsigned and without date, but is in the handwriting of the Reverend Charles Wadsworth, with an embossed crest, “C.W.”
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In Line 1, ED uses the archaic verb “loose”. The ‘Emily Davidson Lexicon’ defines “loose” as “Release; unbind; set free; remove the restraints from”. Many other dictionaries also define it as “untie”.

Today, the use of the verb “loose” in the sense of “untie” is extremely rare. However, classic literature texts use the archaic form, “loose”, frequently. For example, The verb “loose” or its other forms, “loosed” and “looseth”, are used 63 times in ED’s copy of the King James Bible. (Google AI).

ED knew her Bible backward and forward, which probably explains her use of “loose” in Line 1 of this poem.
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Susan Kornfeld, founder of the Emily Dickinson poetry blog, ‘The Prowling Bee‘, posted a delightful explication of this poem on November 21, 2011:

“A delightful proto-feminist poem, Dickinson is wondering why there are sexual double standards for men versus women. The lovely harebell has perhaps loosened her girdle (“belt” we would say today) to that rogue lover Bee (lucky insect – he gets to stand in for God sometimes, too). The Big Question is: Will he still respect her in the morning? Dickinson selects the word “hallow” – even italicizing it for emphasis to show she really means it – to suggest a religious aspect. Marriage is a sacrament, but just a bit of fun between bees and flowers… well, maybe the Bee is right not to feel that hallow feeling. Except the reader senses this is wrong. The Bee would be quite foolish, as well as stupefyingly arrogant to feel anything other than yummy delight at the Harebell’s delicious, life-giving nectar.

            “But just in case the reader is too thick skulled to follow the metaphor, the poet then moves us closer to the realm of ordinary men and women. “Paradise” is of course a way of referring to that blissful refuge men might find beyond the “moat of pearl” when making love. Here the lover is an Earl (helpfully rhyming with “pearl” or else he might have been a king) and if he had successfully “persuaded” his lady love to “yield” to him, the poet wants to know if Paradise / Eden would still be the same. Or would it become, say, Paradise Lost? Or worse, the lady just some now used-goods fallen woman. But the Earl – would he, too, undergo degradation? Dickinson doesn’t even bother to answer that last question. Yes, the Earl will still be an Earl no matter how many virgins he deflowers.

            “The poem is a very playful and clever way of pointing out this inequity that still bedevils much of the world – and in some countries can be a life-and-death  matter.

            “The poem also is fun to read aloud – it just trips off the tongue. The “Did the” and “Would the” doublings strengthen the metaphor and give a nursery-rhyme feel to this adult-content poem. The rhymes are fun: Bee / formerly; and pearl / Earl. The four 4-letter-word “e”s of the last two lines not only link together visually, but showcase Dickinson’s gift for compaction. In both lines she uses the E word first as a specific and then as a general case. Would the Eden of this blossom still be in the category of unsullied Paradise? Would this particular Earl still belong in the category of princely nobility denoted by “Earl”?”
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Between June 18, 2011 and January 30, 2024 Susan Kornfeld wrote and published explications on the first 878 of Emily Dickinson’s known 1789 poems (Poems F1-F878). Since then, Susan has continued to read and occasionally comment on poems.

The new explicator on ‘The Prowling Bee’ blog is Adam Wade DeGraff, who published his first explication on Poem 879 on February 17, 2026, and is currently (September 18, 2026) writing an explication on Poem 946. Doing the math, that’s 66 poems in 213 days, a prodigious rate of one poem every 3 days — not bad for a guy with a family and a full-time teaching job.
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1314C.1874.Because that you are going

Because that you are going
And never coming back
And I, however absolute
May overlook your Track –

Because that Death is final,
However first it be
This instant be suspended
Above Mortality.

Significance that each has lived
The other to detect
Discovery not God himself
Could now annihilate

 Eternity, Presumption
The instant I perceive
That you, who were Existence
Yourself forgot to live

The “Life that is” will then have been
A Thing I never knew
As Paradise fictitious
Until the Realm of you –

The “Life that is to be,” to me,
A Residence too plain
Unless in my Redeemer’s Face
I recognize your own.

Of Immortality who doubts
He may exchange with me
Curtailed by your obscuring Face
Of Everything but He –

 Of Heaven and Hell I also yield
The Right to reprehend
To whoso would commute this Face
For his less priceless Friend.

If “God is Love” as he admits
We think that he must be
Because he is a “jealous God”
He tells us certainly

If “All is possible with” him
As he besides concedes
He will refund us finally
Our confiscated Gods –
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Dickinson created three variants of this poem. I interpret the third, Variant C (above), which she sent to Higginson in January 1874.

My biographical interpretation of F1314C, with ED’s words in italics and my edits in [brackets]. [CW] is Charles Wadsworth:

Stanza 1.

Because that you are going
And never coming back
And I, however absolute
May overlook your Track –

S1.

Because you [CW] are going [to San Francisco] and never coming back, and I, however absolute [as to why], may overlook your [reasons] – . . . [Stanza 1 and 2 are enjambed.]

Stanza 2

Because that Death is final,
However first it be
This instant be suspended
Above Mortality.

S2.

Because that death is final, however [true] it be, [may] this [parting] instant [moment] be suspended above mortality [last forever].

Stanza 3

Significance that each has lived
The other to detect
Discovery not God himself
Could now annihilate

S3.

[The] significance [is] that each [of us] has lived, the other to detect, [a] discovery not God himself could now annihilate.

Stanza 4

Eternity, Presumption
The instant I perceive
That you, who were Existence
Yourself forgot to live

S4.

[Whether our finding each other will last for an] Eternity [is a] Presumption. The instant I perceive that you, yourself, who were existence [to me] forgot to live [during that moment of parting, then . . . ] [Stanza 4-6 are enjambed.]

Stanza 5

The “Life that is” will then have been
A Thing I never knew
As Paradise fictitious
Until the Realm of you –

S5

The “Life that is” will then have been a thing I never knew, as fictitious as paradise, until [I entered] the realm of you. [Stanza 4-6 are enjambed.]

Stanza 6

The “Life that is to be,” to me,
A Residence too plain
Unless in my Redeemer’s Face
I recognize your own.

S6.

[And Heaven,] the “Life that is to be,” [will be] to me, a residence too plain unless in my Redeemer’s face [Christ’s face] I recognize your own.

Stanza 7

Of Immortality who doubts
He may exchange with me
Curtailed by your obscuring Face
Of Everything but He –

S7.

Of Immortality, who doubts He [CW] may [gladly] exchange with me, curtailed by your [Christ’s] obscuring face of everything but He –[CW]

 Stanza 8

Of Heaven and Hell I also yield
The Right to reprehend
To whoso would commute this Face
For his less priceless Friend.

S8.

Of Heaven and Hell, I also yield the right to reprehend to whoso would commute this face [CW’s] for his less priceless Friend [ED].

Stanza 9

If “God is Love” as he admits
We think that he must be
Because he is a “jealous God”
He tells us certainly

S9.

If “God is Love” as he [CW] admits, we [ED] think that he [New Testament God] must be because he [Old Testament God] is a “jealous God”, He [CW] tells us certainly.

Stanza 10

If “All is possible with” him
As he besides concedes
He will refund us finally
Our confiscated Gods –

S10.

If “All is possible with” him [God], as he [CW] besides concedes, He [God] will refund us finally our confiscated Gods – [CW returned to Philadelphia in 1869 but apparently had not contacted ED by 1874.]
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Note 1: The last word of Stanza 7 in Variant C, “He”, was not capitalized in Variants A & B. Apparently, ED changed lowercase “he” to capitalized “He” in Variant C to indicate she reveres CW as much as or more than God.

Note 2: In Stanza 9, ED has apparently demoted both “New Testament God” and “Old Testament God” to a lowercase “he”, which may indicate that she reveres CW more than she reveres God.
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In 1879, ED [Gethsemane] composed a disguised poem, F1485, ‘Spurn the temerity’, asking Wadsworth [Calvary] how he was after 19 years of silence (1860-1879):

Spurn the temerity –
Rashness of Calvary –
Gay were Gethsemane
Knew we of thee –

Apparently, ED sent the poem to Wadsworth who took her poem as an invitation to visit because he arrived unannounced at her front door in 1880. No doubt, after the 20-year hiatus, the maturer twosome spent an afternoon strolling down memory lane.

In an 1886 letter, JL1040, written to Charles Clark one month before her death, ED described Wadsworth’s visit in endearing terms:

“. . . . . The last time he came in Life [summer 1880], I was with my Lilies and Heliotropes, said my Sister to me, “the Gentleman with the deep voice wants to see you, Emily,” hearing him ask of the Servant. “Where did you come from,” I said, for he spoke like an Apparition.

“I stepped from my Pulpit [an invited sermon in Northampton, MA, 12 miles from Amherst] to the Train” was [his] simple reply, and when I asked “how long”, “Twenty Years” said he with inscrutable roguery – but the loved Voice has ceased . . . “.
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These are the days when Birds come back—
A very few—a Bird or two—
To take a backward look.

These are the days when skies resume
The old—old sophistries of June—
A blue and gold mistake.

Oh fraud that cannot cheat the Bee—
Almost thy plausibility
Induces my belief.

Till ranks of seeds their witness bear—
And softly thro’ the altered air
Hurries a timid leaf.

Oh sacrament of summer days,
Oh Last Communion in the Haze—
Permit a child to join.

Thy sacred emblems to partake—
Thy consecrated bread to take
And thine immortal wine!

Apparently, ED never took communion at church, as a child because of Christian custom or as an adult because of agnostic honesty. But both children and agnostics can joyously partake in the Sacrament of Indian-Summer, its bread and wine the golden hues and crisp cool air.

004.1854.I have a Bird in spring

I prefer ED’s alternate phrase in Line 7.

I have a Bird in spring
Which for myself doth sing —
The spring decoys.
And as the summer nears —
And as the Rose appears,
Robin is gone. 

(Then will) I not repine
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown —
Learneth beyond the sea
Melody new for me
And will return. 

Fast in a safer hand
Held in a truer Land
Are mine —
And though they now depart
Tell I my doubting heart
They’re thine. 

In a serener Bright,
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear
Each little discord here
Removed. 

Then will I not repine,
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown
Shall in a distant tree
Bright melody for me
Return.

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My interpretation of F4:

003.1853.On this wondrous sea – sailing silently –

Emily Dickinson (ED) gave Sue a copy of this poem in March 1853.

On this wondrous sea – Sailing silently –
Ho! Pilot! Ho!
Knowest thou the shore
Where no breakers roar –
Where the storm is o’er?

In the silent West
Many – the sails – at rest –
The Anchors fast.
Thither I pilot thee –
Land! Ho! Eternity!
Ashore at last!

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My interpretation by stanzas:

Sweet Sue, we have a wonderful relationship. It’s as if we are together in a small sailboat, silently sailing. Do you know a shore where no breakers roar and the storm is o’er?

Dearest Emily, in the silent west many sails rest, their anchors fast, and that’s where I’m taking you. Look, I see land! It’s called Eternity! We’re home at last!

001.1850.Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine

Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,
Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!

Oh the Earth was made for lovers, for damsel, and hopeless swain,
For sighing, and gentle whispering, and unity made of twain.
All things do go a courting, in earth, or sea, or air,
God hath made nothing single but thee in His world so fair!
The bride, and then the bridegroom, the two, and then the one,
Adam, and Eve, his consort, the moon, and then the sun;
The life doth prove the precept, who obey shall happy be,
Who will not serve the sovereign, be hanged on fatal tree.
The high do seek the lowly, the great do seek the small,
None cannot find who seeketh, on this terrestrial ball;
The bee doth court the flower, the flower his suit receives,
And they make merry wedding, whose guests are hundred leaves;
The wind doth woo the branches, the branches they are won,
And the father fond demandeth the maiden for his son.
The storm doth walk the seashore humming a mournful tune,
The wave with eye so pensive, looketh to see the moon,
Their spirits meet together, they make their solemn vows,
No more he singeth mournful, her sadness she doth lose.
The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride,
Night unto day is married, morn unto eventide;
Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true,
And Earth is quite coquettish, and beseemeth in vain to sue.
Now to the application, to the reading of the roll,
To bringing thee to justice, and marshalling thy soul:
Thou art a human solo, a being cold, and lone,
Wilt have no kind companion, thou reap’st what thou hast sown.
Hast never silent hours, and minutes all too long,
And a deal of sad reflection, and wailing instead of song?
There’s Sarah, and Eliza, and Emeline so fair,
And Harriet, and Susan, and she with curling hair!
Thine eyes are sadly blinded, but yet thou mayest see
Six true, and comely maidens sitting upon the tree;
Approach that tree with caution, then up it boldly climb,
And seize the one thou lovest, nor care for space, or time!
Then bear her to the greenwood, and build for her a bower,
And give her what she asketh, jewel, or bird, or flower—
And bring the fife, and trumpet, and beat upon the drum—
And bid the world Goodmorrow, and go to glory home!

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Larry BJuly 24, 2022

Elbridge Bowdoin, Edward Dickinson’s junior law partner (1847-1855), was about the same age (mid-20s) as Benjamin Newton, Edward’s intern and ED’s mentor, but Newton was married and Bowdoin was not. Bowdoin, a lifelong bachelor, kept this Valentine poem for 40 years. Given its boldly sensual nature, we know where Emily’s mind was at age 19. However, how many Hallmark Valentine cards have you ever seen with a line like this: “The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride”? ED had more than romantic love on her mind.

Larry B January 3, 2025

This early Valentine poem tells us that Susan Gilbert, an orphaned newcomer to Amherst, had joined ED’s inner clique of friends by 4 March 1850. Their acquaintance began fall 1847 when Susan enrolled for a semester at Amherst Academy. Their romantic love probably began summer 1850 (L181, January 1855: “I love you as dearly, Susie, as when love first began, on the step at the front door, and under the Evergreens, and it breaks my heart sometimes, because I do not hear from you.”)