http://www.arcamax.com/poetry/b-1024-1
Three Series, Complete
POEMS
by EMILY DICKINSON
Edited by two of her friends
MABEL LOOMIS TODD and T.W. HIGGINSON
PREFACE.
The verses of Emily Dickinson belong emphatically to what Emerson long
since called "the Poetry of the Portfolio,"--something produced
absolutely without the thought of publication, and solely by way of
expression of the writer's own mind. Such verse must inevitably
forfeit whatever advantage lies in the discipline of public criticism
and the enforced conformity to accepted ways. On the other hand, it
may often gain something through the habit of freedom and the
unconventional utterance of daring thoughts. In the case of the
present author, there was absolutely no choice in the matter; she must
write thus, or not at all. A recluse by temperament and habit,
literally spending years without setting her foot beyond the doorstep,
and many more years during which her walks were strictly limited to
her father's grounds, she habitually concealed her mind, like her
person, from all but a very few friends; and it was with great
difficulty that she was persuaded to print, during her lifetime, three
or four poems. Yet she wrote verses in great abundance; and though
brought curiously indifferent to all conventional rules, had yet a
rigorous literary standard of her own, and often altered a word many
times to suit an ear which had its own tenacious fastidiousness.
Miss Dickinson was born in Amherst, Mass., Dec. 10, 1830, and died
there May 15, 1886. Her father, Hon. Edward Dickinson, was the leading
lawyer of Amherst, and was treasurer of the well-known college there
situated. It was his custom once a year to hold a large reception at
his house, attended by all the families connected with the institution
and by the leading people of the town. On these occasions his daughter
Emily emerged from her wonted retirement and did her part as gracious
hostess; nor would any one have known from her manner, I have been
told, that this was not a daily occurrence. The annual occasion once
past, she withdrew again into her seclusion, and except for a very few
friends was as invisible to the world as if she had dwelt in a
nunnery. For myself, although I had corresponded with her for many
years, I saw her but twice face to face, and brought away the
impression of something as unique and remote as Undine or Mignon or
Thekla.
This selection from her poems is published to meet the desire of her
personal friends, and especially of her surviving sister. It is
believed that the thoughtful reader will find in these pages a quality
more suggestive of the poetry of William Blake than of anything to be
elsewhere found,--flashes of wholly original and profound insight into
nature and life; words and phrases exhibiting an extraordinary
vividness of descriptive and imaginative power, yet often set in a
seemingly whimsical or even rugged frame. They are here published as
they were written, with very few and superficial changes; although it
is fair to say that the titles have been assigned, almost invariably,
by the editors. In many cases these verses will seem to the reader
like poetry torn up by the roots, with rain and dew and earth still
clinging to them, giving a freshness and a fragrance not otherwise to
be conveyed. In other cases, as in the few poems of shipwreck or of
mental conflict, we can only wonder at the gift of vivid imagination
by which this recluse woman can delineate, by a few touches, the very
crises of physical or mental struggle. And sometimes again we catch
glimpses of a lyric strain, sustained perhaps but for a line or two at
a time, and making the reader regret its sudden cessation. But the
main quality of these poems is that of extraordinary grasp and
insight, uttered with an uneven vigor sometimes exasperating,
seemingly wayward, but really unsought and inevitable. After all,
when a thought takes one's breath away, a lesson on grammar seems an
impertinence. As Ruskin wrote in his earlier and better days, "No
weight nor mass nor beauty of execution can outweigh one grain or
fragment of thought."
---Thomas Wentworth Higginson
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
As is well documented, Emily Dickinson's poems were edited in these
early editions by her friends, better to fit the conventions of the
times. In particular, her dashes, often small enough to appear as
dots, became commas and semi-colons.
In the second series of poems published, a facsimile of her
handwritten poem which her editors titled "Renunciation" is given, and
I here transcribe that manuscript as faithfully as I can, showing
_underlined_ words thus.
There came a day - at Summer's full - Entirely for me - I thought that
such were for the Saints - Where Resurrections - be -
The sun - as common - went abroad - The flowers - accustomed - blew,
As if no soul - that solstice passed - Which maketh all things - new -
The time was scarce profaned - by speech - The falling of a word Was
needless - as at Sacrament - The _Wardrobe_ - of our Lord!
Each was to each - the sealed church - Permitted to commune - _this_
time - Lest we too awkward show At Supper of "the Lamb."
The hours slid fast - as hours will - Clutched tight - by greedy hands
- So - faces on two Decks look back - Bound to _opposing_ lands.
And so, when all the time had leaked, Without external sound, Each
bound the other's Crucifix - We gave no other bond -
Sufficient troth - that we shall _rise_, Deposed - at length the Grave
- To that new marriage - _Justified_ - through Calvaries - of Love!
From the handwriting, it is not always clear which are dashes, which
are commas and which are periods, nor it is entirely clear which
initial letters are capitalized.
However, this transcription may be compared with the edited version in
the main text to get a flavor of the changes made in these early
editions.
---JT
This is my letter to the world, That never wrote to me, -- The simple
news that Nature told, With tender majesty.
Her message is committed To hands I cannot see; For love of her, sweet
countrymen, Judge tenderly of me!