843.1864. It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon—
It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon—
The Flower—distinct and Red—
I, passing, thought another Noon
Another in its stead
Will equal glow, and thought no More
But came another Day
To find the Species disappeared—
The Same Locality—
The Sun in place—no other fraud
On Nature’s perfect Sum—
Had I but lingered Yesterday—
Was my retrieveless blame—
Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its Resemblance—
But unapproached it stands—
The single Flower of the Earth
That I, in passing by
Unconscious was—Great Nature’s Face
Passed infinite by Me—
“Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its Resemblance—
But unapproached it stands—”
……………………………………………………………………………
My biographical interpretation of ‘It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon —’, with ED’s enjamb of Lines 4-5 noted {curly brackets:
1.
It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon —
The Flower — distinct and Red —
I, passing, thought another Noon
Another in its stead {enjambed with L5}
My day-lily bloomed early this morning and lasted til noon, but its half-day reminded me of a half-day four years ago when Reverend Charles Wadsworth rang at noon at my front door. Unlike my day-lily, whose life began early and ended at noon, Wadsworth’s visit began at noon and ended after dark.
2.
Will equal glow. and thought no More
But came another Day
To find the Species disappeared —
The Same Locality —
I thought he would come again, and then I thought no more. But I was wrong, he never returned.
3.
The Sun in place — no other fraud
On Nature’s perfect Sum—
Had I but lingered Yesterday —
Was my retrieveless blame —
Summer sunlight warmed the Earth; no cloud dimmed the sky. Looking back, I realize that half-day was the apogee of my life. If I had only stopped the clock, I might have lived that time again. But I could not, and that was my own fault.
4.
Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its Resemblance —
But unapproached it stands —
I’ve tried desperately to find another soul like Wadsworth’s, but each one I find falls short, and I, one by one, lay them in my ebony box and close the lid.
5.
The single Flower of the Earth
That I, in passing by
Unconscious was — Great Nature’s Face
Passed infinite by Me —
The one thing on Earth I want, I had that day, but never since. I was not aware then that I had found, and lost, the love of my life.
…………………………………………………………………………………..
ED’s alternate words and phrases [Lines L10, L15, L19, L20] are in {curly brackets}:
It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon —
The Flower — distinct and Red —
I, passing, thought another Noon
Another in its stead
Will equal glow, and thought no More
But came another Day
To find the Species disappeared —
The Same Locality —
The Sun in place — no other fraud
On Nature’s perfect {general} Sum —
Had I but lingered Yesterday —
Was my retrieveless blame —
Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its {similitude} —
But unapproached it stands —
The single Flower of the Earth
That I, in passing by
Unconscious was — Great Nature’s Face
Passed infinite by Me —
{L19: Was ignorant that Nature closed}
{L20A: My Opportunity; Line 20B: Went infinite by Me —}
- In Line 10 I prefer ED’s original word, “perfect” because it begins with a powerful “p”; “general” sounds wishy-washy.
.
- In Line 15 I prefer her alternate word , “similitude” because it alliterates with “seeking”. I prefer her alternate Line 15 because it has eight syllables, which matches Line 13. ED’s original Line 15 has only 7 monosyllables.
.
- I prefer her original Line 19 because it has eight syllables; her alternate Line 19 has a ridiculous 14 syllables.
.
- I prefer her original L20 because her alternate Line 20A, “My Opportunity”, makes no sense and because her original first word, “Past”, packs more power than wimpy “Went”
………………………………………………………………………………
In summer 1880, Wadsworth did return to Homestead, and, as evidence of ED’s enduring love for him, here is an 1879 “Calvary” poem (F1485) that affirms her concern for him in a sweet quatrain.
“Spurn the temerity —
Rashness of Calvary —
Gay were Gethsemane
Knew we of Thee —”
“Calvary” and “Gethsemane” are ED’s code names for Wadsworth and herself. She had to be careful in her poems to protect Wadsworth’s reputation and her own privacy. ‘Spurn the temerity —’ (F1485, 1879) is the 12th and last of her “Calvary” poems.
It would not surprise me if ED mailed F1485 to Wadsworth in 1879, though we have no hard evidence that happened because both she and he burned all their mutual letters. The following summer, 1880, he showed up unannounced at her front door:
“Where did you come from,” I said, for he spoke like an Apparition. “I stepped from my Pulpit 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.”
Letter JL1040 to Charles Clark, April 15, 1886, exactly one month before she died.
The ED-Wadsworth “love affair” was likely a marriage of two disparate minds who agreed to disagree, both deeply spiritual, one an eloquent conservative Christian minister, the other a world-class agnostic poet. They died close friends, in 1882 and 1886 respectively.
Wadsworth, who was 66 in 1880, apparently made the 500-mile roundtrip from his home in Philadelphia to visit his close friends, James and Charles Clark in Northampton, MA.
ED’s letter (JL1040) tells us Wadsworth gave a sermon at the Clarks’ church and then took the 12-mile train trip to Amherst that afternoon to visit her. His answer to her question, “Twenty Years” was a reference to his previous visit with her in Amherst in summer 1860. ED’s phrase, “inscrutable roguery”, tells me how much ED loved Wadsworth — he was the love of her life.
………………………………………………………………………..
ED’S lifelong theme of friends lost to death or moving away runs strong in her letters and poems. At age 14, much too young, she experienced the death of a close friend. She was in an adjoining room when the girl died and she begged the girl’s mother to let her say goodbye one last time. Unwisely, the mother relented. ED suffered severe fear-of-abandonment anxiety for the rest of her life.
………………………………………………………………………..
ED’s “Ebon Box”:
ED used closing the lid of her “Ebon Box” as a metaphor for losing friends, either to death or, more commonly, to alienation. At the end of her life she had no close long-term friends, probably because she had demanded too much of them. (Sewall, R. B, 1974. The Life of Emily Dickinson)
“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.” (Google AI Overview, downloaded 6/15/2026)
This black scarred box is the one Harvard eventually acquired in 1950. From the photo, its 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
“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, downloaded 6/15/2026)
For a fuller explanation of its circuitous journey before it was given to Harvard, see: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLaMDv_tx3-/
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 –”
Miller, Cristanne. and Domhnall Mitchell (eds). The Letters of Emily Dickinson (p. 267). Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition
“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)
The top of the box reads “EMILY E. AND LAVINIA N. DICKINSON”
………………………………………………………..
Biographical note:
In summer 1880, Wadsworth did return to Homestead, and, as evidence of ED’s enduring love for him, here is an 1879 “Calvary” poem (F1485) that affirms her concern for him in a sweet quatrain.
“Spurn the temerity —
Rashness of Calvary —
Gay were Gethsemane
Knew we of Thee —”
“Calvary” and “Gethsemane” are ED’s code names for Wadsworth and herself. She had to be careful in her poems to protect Wadsworth’s reputation and her own privacy. ‘Spurn the temerity —’ (F1485, 1879) is the 12th and last of her “Calvary” poems.
It would not surprise me if ED mailed F1485 to Wadsworth in 1879, though we have no hard evidence that happened because both she and he burned all their mutual letters. The following summer, 1880, he showed up unannounced at her front door:
“Where did you come from,” I said, for he spoke like an Apparition. “I stepped from my Pulpit 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.”
Letter 1040 to Charles Clark, April 15, 1886, exactly one month before she died.
The ED-Wadsworth “love affair” was likely a marriage of two disparate minds who agreed to disagree, both deeply spiritual, one an eloquent conservative Christian minister, the other a world-class agnostic poet. They died close friends, in 1882 and 1886 respectively.
Wadsworth, who was 66 in 1880, apparently made the 500-mile roundtrip from his home in Philadelphia to visit his close friends, James and Charles Clark in Northampton, MA.
ED’s letter (JL1040) tells us Wadsworth gave a sermon at the Clarks’ church and then took the 12-mile train trip to Amherst that afternoon to visit her. His answer to her question, “Twenty Years” was a reference to his previous visit with her in Amherst in summer 1860. ED’s phrase, “inscrutable roguery”, tells me how much ED loved Wadsworth — he was the love of her life.