The Project Gutenberg EBook of Poems: Third Series, by Emily Dickinson

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Title: Poems: Third Series

Author: Emily Dickinson

Release Date: May 3, 2004 [EBook #12241]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS: THIRD SERIES ***

Produced by Jim Tinsley <[email protected]>

POEMS

by EMILY DICKINSON

Third Series

Edited by

MABEL LOOMIS TODD

    It's all I have to bring to-day,
      This, and my heart beside,
    This, and my heart, and all the fields,
      And all the meadows wide.
    Be sure you count, should I forget, —
      Some one the sum could tell, —
    This, and my heart, and all the bees
      Which in the clover dwell.

PREFACE.

The intellectual activity of Emily Dickinson was so great that a large and characteristic choice is still possible among her literary material, and this third volume of her verses is put forth in response to the repeated wish of the admirers of her peculiar genius. Much of Emily Dickinson's prose was rhythmic, —even rhymed, though frequently not set apart in lines.

Also many verses, written as such, were sent to friends in letters; these were published in 1894, in the volumes of her Letters. It has not been necessary, however, to include them in this Series, and all have been omitted, except three or four exceptionally strong ones, as "A Book," and "With Flowers."

There is internal evidence that many of the poems were simply spontaneous flashes of insight, apparently unrelated to outward circumstance. Others, however, had an obvious personal origin; for example, the verses "I had a Guinea golden," which seem to have been sent to some friend travelling in Europe, as a dainty reminder of letter-writing delinquencies. The surroundings in which any of Emily Dickinson's verses are known to have been written usually serve to explain them clearly; but in general the present volume is full of thoughts needing no interpretation to those who apprehend this scintillating spirit.

M. L. T.

AMHERST, October, 1896.

I. LIFE.

POEMS.

I.

REAL RICHES.

'T is little I could care for pearls
  Who own the ample sea;
Or brooches, when the Emperor
  With rubies pelteth me;

Or gold, who am the Prince of Mines;
  Or diamonds, when I see
A diadem to fit a dome
  Continual crowning me.

II.

SUPERIORITY TO FATE.

Superiority to fate
  Is difficult to learn.
'T is not conferred by any,
  But possible to earn

A pittance at a time,
  Until, to her surprise,
The soul with strict economy
  Subsists till Paradise.

III.

HOPE.

Hope is a subtle glutton;
  He feeds upon the fair;
And yet, inspected closely,
  What