All Poems

847.1864.Her final Summer was it—

Her final Summer was it—
And yet We guessed it not—
If tenderer industriousness
Pervaded Her, We thought

A further force of life
Developed from within—
When Death lit all the shortness up
It made the hurry plain—

We wondered at our blindness
When nothing was to see
But Her Carrara Guide post—
At Our Stupidity—

When duller than our dullness
The Busy Darling lay
So busy was she—finishing—
So leisurely—were We—
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ED suggested one alternate line, three alternate words, and one alternate phrase. I prefer:

L2. Alternate line, “Yet we suspected not”, because the original Line 2, “And yet We guessed it not,” began with “And”, which feels weak, while “Yet” sounds strong, signifies time, and implies “however”

L5. Alternate word, “Fund” , over the original word “Force” because fund implies an amount of something, in this case time, and it’s running out.

L4 and L5 enjamb Stanzas 1 and 2:

“We thought / A further Fund of Life”

L7. Alternate word “limit” over original “shortness” because the woman’s “Fund” of life [Line 5] is limited [Line 7].

L7 Alternate word, “brevity” in place of the phrase “shortness up” because it’s one word in place of the clunky phrase.

I use these preferences {in curly brackets} in my stanza by stanza interpretation of the poem:

Stanza 1

Her final Summer was it—
{Yet we suspected not}
If tenderer industriousness
Pervaded Her, {We thought

S1.

During summer, she knew she was dying but didn’t tell us. She seemed more industrious than usual putting her affairs in order. We thought

Stanza 2

A further} {Fund} of life
Developed from within—
When Death lit all the {brevity}
It made the hurry plain—

S2

she had found a fund of life deep inside her, so we were surprised when she visibly began to die. That explained why she had been hurrying.

 

Stanza 3

We wondered at our blindness
When nothing was to see
But Her Carrara Guide post—
At Our Stupidity—

S3

We wondered at our blindness, but she showed us nothing that would make us suspect her death was near. Her face was calm as Carrara marble. We can’t believe we were so blind to the truth.

 

Stanza 4

When duller than our dullness
The Busy Darling lay
So busy was she—finishing—
So leisurely—were We—

S4

Even when she began to fade we could not believe the end was near. We took our time when she asked for help and now regret our leisureness. On her deathbed she finished her final legal documents and gave instructions for her funeral.
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845.1864.We can but follow to the Sun—

We can but follow to the Sun—
As oft as He go down
He leave Ourselves a Sphere behind—
‘Tis mostly—following—

We go no further with the Dust
Than to the Earthen Door—
And then the Panels are reversed—
And we behold—no more.
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ED suggested no alternates for this poem

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My prose interpretation of ‘We can but follow to the Sun —’ (F845, 1864):

Stanza 1

 

All our lives we only follow the Sun. As often as He sets, we sleep, Earth turns, Sun rises, and we wake.

Stanza 2

“Dust to dust” circumscribes our lives, and then our curtain falls. Earth swallows us, night reigns, and we behold no more.
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Excerpt from letter to Higginson (JL503, June 1877):

“When a few years old – I was taken to a Funeral which I now know was of peculiar distress, and the Clergyman asked “Is the Arm of the Lord shortened that it cannot save?

He italicized the ‘cannot.’ I mistook the accent for a doubt of Immortality and not daring to ask, it besets me still.”
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In 1882, ED revisited F845’s gist with ‘Those – dying then’ (F1581):

Those – dying then,
Knew where they went –
They went to God’s Right Hand –
That Hand is amputated now
And God cannot be found –

The abdication of Belief
Makes the Behavior small –
Better an ignis fatuus
Than no illume at all –
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Definition: ignis fatuus (noun):

1. a light that sometimes appears in the night over marshy ground and is often attributable to the combustion of gas from decomposed organic matter

2. a deceptive goal or hope

“Ignis fatuus” is a Latin term meaning, literally, “foolish fire.”

Other names for this light are “jack-o’-lantern” and “will-o’-the-wisp” — both of which are connected to folklore about mysterious men, Jack and Will, who carry a lantern or a wisp of light at night.

Etymology:

Medieval Latin, literally, foolish fire
First Known Use was in 1563, in Sense 1 (above).

Synonyms: pipe dream, mirage, chimera, delusion, daydream, illusion

(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ignis%20fatuus)

 

274,1862.Again – his voice is at the door –

ED suggested seven alternate words/phrases, in {curly brackets}:  Line 8, 10, 13, 17, 18, 25, 29. My edits in [brackets]:

Again – his voice is at the door –
I feel the old Degree –
I hear him ask the servant
For such an one – as me –

I take a flower – as I go –
My face to justify –
He never saw me – in this life –
I might surprise {not please} his eye!

I cross the Hall with mingled steps –
I – silent {speechless} – pass the door –
I look on all this world contains –
Just his face – nothing more!

We talk in careless {venture} – and in toss –
A kind of plummet strain –
Each – sounding – shyly –
Just – how – deep –
The other’s one – had been – {foot had been}

We walk – I leave my Dog – at home {behind} –
A tender – thoughtful Moon –
Goes with us – just a little way –
And – then – we are alone –

Alone – if Angels are “alone” –
First time they try the sky!
Alone – if those “veiled faces” – be –
We cannot count – {That murmur so – ; That chant so – far -}
On High!
I’d give – to live that hour – again –
The purple – in my Vein –
But He must {should} count the drops – himself –
My price for every stain!
…………………………………………

A close inspection of F274 manuscript PAGE 4 suggests ED intended to break the final nonet (nine-line stanza) into two quatrains, combining LINES 25-26 into one LINE 25. Her sequence of thoughts certainly begs for a stanza break there:

Alone – if Angels are “alone” –
First time they try the sky!
Alone – if those “veiled faces” – be –
We cannot count – On High!

I’d give – to live that hour – again –
The purple – in my Vein –
But He must count the drops – himself –
My price for every stain!
…………………………………………………………………………

ED’s manuscript of this poem fills five pages of her fascicle, more than any preceding poem. It must have been an important poem to her because she continued considering changes in her final fascicle copy, which is atypical of ED.
………………………………………………………………………………………………..

• L1: “Again – his voice is at the door –”.  Habegger (1998) tells us “Wadsworth’s deep bass tones, ….., produced an unforgettable effect.”
  .
• L8: “I might surprise his eye!”. ED considered replacing “surprise” with “not please”, which suggests she wanted to please her visitor.
  .
• L10: “I – silent – pass the door –”. ED considered replacing “silent” with “speechless” but didn’t. She certainly was not “speechless” in her conversations (JL342b, 16 August 1870).
  .
• LINE 13: “We talk in careless – and in toss –”. ED considered replacing “careless” with “venture”, but didn’t. Who knows what unspoken words follow “careless” and “toss”. Note that Stanza 4 is a quintain.
  .
• LINES 16-17: “Just – how – deep – / The other’s one – had been –”. ED’s original Lines 16 – 17, written in dark ink with a broad-bibbed pen read, “Just – how – deep – / The other one – had been –”, with no apostrophe “s”.  Perhaps she was implying without stating, “Just – how – deeply in love – / The other one – had been -”.
  .
  She considered replacing “other one – had been” with “other’s foot had been”, editing with lighter ink and a narrow-bibbed pen, perhaps thinking of the cliché “head over heels in love”, but she rejected the idea. Editors have ignored the obvious difference in the two pen tips.

Susan Kornfeld July 11, 2020 at 9:16 AM, [On ‘The Prowing Bee’ blog, TPB]

[ https://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/2012/06/again-his-voice-is-at-door.html?showComment=1594484193691#c6232886251522264990 ]

[T]here are too many signals, I think, that the poem refers to some assignation in this earthly life. There is the ‘again’ in the first stanza, there is the conversation as if between two equals and there is the speaker extracting a price from the ‘he’.

Larry B June 11, 2026 at 6:36 AM,  Same TPB URL, [Brackets] mine

Susan, your intuition is right on.
…………………………………………………………………………

Habegger (1998) tells us:

“[ED] was in Washington, DC from Saturday, February 10, 1855, to Friday, March 9. She was in Philadelphia from Saturday, March 10 to [at least Monday, March 26]. She and Vinnie probably attended Wadsworth’s sermon on March [25], 1855, their last Sunday in Philadelphia.

“ED saw Rev Wadsworth only three times in her life: [late March 1855, summer 1860, summer 1880]

“After three weeks of Washington, Edward took his daughters to Philadelphia and then went home, leaving Emily and Vinnie to spend at least two weeks with their friend and second cousin, Eliza Coleman, on Nineteenth Street below Chestnut.

“On Saturday, March 10, 1855, ED and Vinnie arrived in Philadelphia after their visit to Washington, DC, with their father. They checked into the Willards Hotel, probably for one night, and [he] then left them with their friend and second cousin, Eliza Coleman, and returned to Amherst. They stayed with Eliza for two more Sundays, the 18th and 25th. On one of those Sundays, probably March 18 [My guess is March 25, ED’s last Sunday in Philadelphia], Eliza took them to Arch Street Presbyterian Church to hear the famous Rev Charles Wadsworth preach. One sermon was all it took, ED fell in “love”. After preaching, Wadsworth’s habit was to sit bowed at his pulpit, lost in thought; she probably did not meet him personally after the service.”
…………………………………………………………………………

Sometime after 1855, ED began correspondence with Wadsworth, probably by asking him for counsel concerning her mother’s illness. She continued corresponding with him, and he visited her twice at her home in Amherst, probably during the summers of 1860 and 1880.

Habegger (`1998) presents compelling evidence, and I agree, that Wadsworth, 16 years ED’s senior, was the recipient of the three Master Letters, which Franklin dated “about 1858”, “about 1861”, and “early 1862”.

There’s one surviving letter from Wadsworth to ED, probably dated soon after he received ML1. In his letter he misspelled her last name and expressed sincere pastoral concern about her health, probably based on the alarming tone of ML1.

I believe that this poem, “Again – his voice is at the door –”, concerns Wadsworth’s summer 1860 visit with ED. The first word in the poem, “Again”, refers to the first time she heard his voice, on Sunday, March 25, 1855, at Arch Street Presbyterian in Philadelphia. As far as we know, his only other visit with ED in Amherst was during summer, 1880.
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Susan KornfeldJune 11, 2026 at 10:18 AM on TPB

Thank you for this and your earlier commentary. You make a strong case for Wadsworth!

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Habegger, Alfred. 1998. My Wars Are Laid Away in Books (p. 373). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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}:

Stanza 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]

S1.

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.

 

Stanza 2

Will equal glow. and thought no More
But came another Day
To find the Species disappeared —
The Same Locality —

S2.

I thought he would come again, and then I thought no more. But I was wrong, he never returned.

 

Stanza 3.

The Sun in place — no other fraud
On Nature’s perfect Sum—
Had I but lingered Yesterday —
Was my retrieveless blame —

S3.

Summer sunlight warmed the Earth; no cloud dimmed the sky. Looking back, I realize that half-day was the peak 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.

 

Stanza 4.

Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its {Similitude} —
But unapproached it stands —

S4.

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.

 

Stanza 5.

The single Flower of the Earth
That I, in passing by
Unconscious was — Great Nature’s Face
Passed infinite by Me —

S5.

The one thing on Earth I wanted, I had that day, but never since. I was not aware then that I had found, and lost, the love of my life.

 

Stanza 6.

“Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its Resemblance—
But unapproached it stands—”

S6.

I’ve searched and searched for another love like the love Wadsworth and I experienced before that day. Many times I thought I had found it, but I eventually put them in my Ebon Box and closed the lid. There will never be another.
………………………………………………………………………………….

ED’s alternate words and phrases [Lines L10, L15, L19, L20] are in {curly brackets}:

Line 10.

On Nature’s perfect {general} Sum —

L10.

I prefer ED’s original word, “perfect” because it begins with a powerful “p”; “general” sounds wishy-washy.

 

Line 15.

For seeking its Resemblance {Similitude}—

L15.

I prefer ED’s alternate word , “similitude”, because it alliterates with “seeking”.

 

Line 19.

For seeking its Resemblance {Was ignorant that Nature closed}

L19.

I prefer her original Line 19 because it tells us what ED did. Her alternate line only tells us what she thought.

 

Line 20A.

But unapproached it stands— {My Opportunity}

L20A.

Stanza 5 with ED’s alternate Line 20A reads:

Much Flowers of this and further Zones
Have perished in my Hands
For seeking its Resemblance—
{My 0pportunity}

I don’t like “My Opportunity” because ED is blaming herself for not hearing anything from Wadsworth after their tryst in 1860, but that relationship did not “perish in my Hands”.

 

Line 20B.

In the context of the full Stanza 5, I prefer ED’s original “Passed” because “Went” weakens the finality of her one and only tryst with Wadsworth:
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In summer 1880, Wadsworth did return to Homestead, and, as evidence of ED’s enduring love for him, here is the 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. ED’s last letter to Charles Clarke implies she and Wadsworth died close friends, in 1886 and 1882, respectively.

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.
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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.
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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”
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842.1864.Patience—has a quiet Outer—

Patience—has a quiet Outer—
Patience—Look within—
Is an Insect’s futile forces
Infinites—between—

‘Scaping one—against the other
Fruitlesser to fling—
Patience—is the Smile’s exertion
Through the quivering—
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ED lists two alternate words in Line 7 and two alternates, Lines 7-8 {in curly brackets}. I prefer ED’s original words and phrase.

My biographical interpretation of ‘Patience—has a quiet Outer—’:

S1

My family sees my outward quiet appearance, but that is superficial. If they could look within, they would see a futile struggle between infinite forces.

S2

If I escape the pain of living life, the pain of separation from Him descends, ripping open my healing wound. He told me we would meet and marry in Heaven, so I force a smile, though my lips are quivering.
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ED lists two alternate words in Line 7 and two alternates, Lines 7-8 {in curly brackets}. I prefer ED’s original words and phrase:

Line 7:

Patience—is the Smile’s {Mouth’s; Love’s} exertion

Lines 7- 8:

Smile’s exertion {Mean of forces} —
Through the quivering {Stand by Her Wing}
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In Master Letter 1 (JL187, draft, spring 1858), ED invited Reverend Wadsworth to visit her in Amherst:

“Listen again, Master. I did not tell you that today had been the Sabbath Day.

“Each Sabbath on the Sea, makes me count the Sabbaths, till we meet on shore ¬¬─ and (will the) whether the hills will look as blue as the sailors say. I cannot talk any more (stay any longer) tonight (now), for this pain denies me.

“How strong when weak to recollect, and easy, quite, to love. Will you tell me, please to tell me, soon as you are well.”

ED knew that Wadsworth was nationally known for his powerful, pew-filling sermons and probably did not expect him to come. Wadsworth probably knew from ED’s previous letters that she had heard him deliver a sermon in March 1855 and probably guessed, correctly, that his deep bass voice and oratorical skills had stolen her heart.

Wadsworth was the love of ED’s life. He probably knew how she felt because her feelings were obvious in her Master Letter Drafts ML1 (JL187, Spring 1858), ML2 (JL248, early 1861), and ML3 (JL233, Summer 1861).

ED’s poems honor Wadsworth by capitalizing all his pronouns, just as she capitalized God’s. In fact, ED seems to think of Wadsworth as God’s doppelgänger.

“Fruitlesser” (Line 6) is an ED original, a humdinger comparative adjective.