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)
We never know how high we are Till we are called to rise And then, if we are true to plan Our statures touch the skies –
The Heaven hath a Hell, the Earth a Heaven.
The only Port we ever knew Is the Port of Paradise –
To comprehend a Heaven, and in it, not myself, is Heaven's own Hell.
The Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.
The thought of Death is a new thought to me.
The Mind lives on the Heart – as true as any part –
The only Secret that I know Is that the Soul is dead – When it has ceased to love.
The Soul has moments of Escape – When feeling over-whelmed – She rises from her Durance – And like a Bird – is flown –
A Wounded Deer – leaps highest – I've heard the Hunter tell – 'Tis but the Ecstasy of death – And then the Brake is still –
The only Life that I can know Is that which I have lived –
The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.
The only thing that I regret Is that I have but one life to give for my Country.
I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there's a pair of us – don't tell! They'd banish us, you know.
The Bible is an antique Volume – Written by faded Men At the suggestion of Holy Spectres – Subjects – obsolete –
Publication – is the Auction Of the Mind of Man – Poverty – be the Price – Of Genius – if it can –
The Soul's Superior instants Occur to Her – alone – When Sense is all fulfilled – When pulse can go no further –
The only Ghost I ever saw Was dressed in Mechlin – lace – She stood there in the room alone – I spoke to her – of course –
To fill a Gap / Insert the Thing that caused it – / Block it up / With Other – and 'twill yawn the more – / You cannot solder an Abyss / With Air.
Crisis is a Hair – / Split for the instant – / Of its Hair – / Then – is it past –
Contemporaries of Emily Dickinson
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Emily Dickinson (1830–1886).