Emily Dickinson
Revolutionary American poet of interiority
Most quoted
"The Robin’s my Criterion for Tune – Because I grow – where Robins do – But, were I Cuckoo born – I’d swear by him – The ode familiar – rules the Noon – The Buttercup’s, my Whim for Bloom – Because, we’re Orchard sprung – But, were I Britain born, I’d Daisies spurn – None but the Nut – October fit – Because, through dropping it, The Seasons flit – I’m taught – Without the Snow’s Tableau Winter, were lie – to me – Because I had not seen it go – But, this – makes not the Robin poor – Nor, of the Nut, deprive the Jay – Because the seasons flit away –"
— from Poem 347, 1862
"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?"
— from Letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson
"I’m ceded – I’ve stopped being Theirs – The name They dropped upon my face With water, in the country church Is finished using, now, And They can put it with my Dolls, My childhood, and the string of spools, I’ve finished threading – too –"
— from Poem 508, 1862
All quotes by Emily Dickinson (267)
The Tint I cannot take - is best - The Color I can own - is not -
The Soul has Bandaged moments - When too appalled to stir - She feels some ghastly Fright come up And stop to look at her -
The only way to know a Soul Is to become it's Guest -
The deepest solitude is in a crowd.
Nature is a haunted house--but Art--a house that is not haunted--perhaps because it is so full of us.
The only career I have is the care of myself.
I have no time for anything but Eternity.
The Soul has moments of Escape - When bursting all the doors - She dances like a Bomb, abroad, And swings upon the Hours -
The Mind lives on the Heart - like a Bee - on a Flower -
The Soul's distinct connection With Immortality Is best disclosed by Danger Or by Adversity -
Much Madness is divinest Sense – To a discerning Eye – Much Sense – the starkest Madness – 'Tis the Majority – in this, as all, prevail – Assent – and you are sane – Demur – you're straightway dangerous – And handled with a Chain –
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant – Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind –
The Soul's Superior instants Occur to Her – as if A Child that just had tasted Breath Should drown the Common Life
Beauty – be not caused – It Is –
The Heart asks Pleasure – first – And then – Excuse from Pain – And then – those little Anodynes That deaden suffering – And then – to go to sleep – And then – if it should be The will of its Inquisitor The privilege to die –
Crisis is a Hair – 'Tis the instant 'twixt the Breath – And the Spirit – going thence –
The only way to shut out the world is to be in it.
To be of use is to be of value.
The only Ghost I ever saw Was dressed in Mechlin – lace – She stood upon the Window sill – As if to prove the place –
Perception of an object costs precise the Object's loss –
Contemporaries of Emily Dickinson
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Emily Dickinson (1830–1886).