Tag: Life

  • Notes for Emily Dickinson’s poetry

    The manuscripts for Emily Dickinson’s poetry are very questionable. Her skill holds.

  • Index, Life

    (1) I. SUCCESS Success is counted sweetestBy those who ne’er succeed…(2) II. OUR SHARE OF NIGHT TO BEAR Our share of morning…(3) III. ROUGE ET NOIRSoul, wilt thou toss again? By just such a hazard… More→

  • Success

    SUCCESS is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple host Who took the flag to-day Can tell the definition, So clear, of victory… More→

  • Our Share of Night

    OUR share of night to bear, Our share of morning, Our blank in bliss to fill, Our blank in scorning. More→

  • Rouge et Noir

    SOUL, wilt thou toss again? By just such a hazard Hundreds have lost, indeed, But tens have won an all. More→

  • Rouge Gagne

    IT is so much joy! ’T is so much joy! If I should fail, what poverty! And yet, as poor as I Have ventured all upon a throw; Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so This side the victory! Life is but life, and death but death! Bliss is but bliss, and breath but breath! And if,…

  • Glee! The Great Storm Is Over!

    GLEE! the great storm is over! Four have recovered the land; Forty gone down together Into the boiling sand. Ring, for the scant salvation! Toll, for the bonnie souls — Neighbor and friend and bridegroom, Spinning upon the shoals! More→

  • If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking

    IF I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain… More→

  • Almost!

    WITHIN my reach! I could have touched! I might have chanced that way! Soft sauntered through the village, Sauntered as soft away! More→

  • A Wounded Deer

    A WOUNDED deer leaps highest, I’ve heard the hunter tell; ’T is but the ecstasy of death, And then the brake is still. More→

  • The Heart Asks Pleasure First

    THE heart asks pleasure first, And then, excuse from pain; And then, those little anodynes That deaden suffering… More→

  • In a Library

    A PRECIOUS, mouldering pleasure ’t is To meet an antique book, In just the dress his century wore; A privilege, I think, His venerable hand to take, And warming in our own, A passage back, or two, to make To times when he was young. His quaint opinions to inspect, His knowledge to unfold On…

  • Much Madness

    MUCH madness is divinest sense To a discerning eye; Much sense the starkest madness. More→

  • I Asked No Other Thing

    I ASKED no other thing, No other was denied. I offered Being for it; The mighty merchant smiled. More→

  • Exclusion

    Exclusion

    The soul selects her own society, Then shuts the door …

  • The Secret

    SOME things that fly there be — Birds, hours, the bumble-bee: Of these no elegy. Some things that stay there be — Grief, hills, eternity: Nor this behooveth me. More→

  • The Lonely House

    I KNOW some lonely houses off the road A robber ’d like the look of — Wooden barred, And windows hanging low, Inviting to A portico, Where two could creep: One hand the tools, The other peep To make sure all’s asleep. Old-fashioned eyes, Not easy to surprise! More→

  • To Fight Aloud

    TO fight aloud is very brave, But gallanter, I know, Who charge within the bosom, The cavalry of woe. Who win, and nations do not see, Who fall, and none observe, Whose dying eyes no country Regards with patriot love. More→

  • Dawn

    WHEN night is almost done, And sunrise grows so near That we can touch the spaces, It’s time to smooth the hair, And get the dimples ready… More→

  • The Book of Martyrs

    READ, sweet, how others strove, Till we are stouter; What they renounced, Till we are less afraid; How many times they bore The faithful witness, Till we are helped, As if a kingdom cared! More→

  • The Mystery of Pain

    PAIN has an element of blank; It cannot recollect When it began, or if there were A day when it was not. More→

  • I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed

    ITASTE taste a liquor never brewed, From tankards scooped in pearl; Not all the vats upon the Rhine Yield such an alcohol! Inebriate of air am I, And debauchee of dew, Reeling, through endless summer days, From inns of molten blue. More→

  • A Book

    HE ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was dust. More→

  • I Had No Time to Hate

    I HAD no time to hate, because The grave would hinder me, And life was not so ample I Could finish enmity. More→

  • Unreturning

    ’TWAS such a little, little boat That toddled down the bay! ’T was such a gallant, gallant sea That beckoned it away! More→

  • Whether My Bark Went Down at Sea

    WHETHER my bark went down at sea, Whether she met with gales, Whether to isles enchanted She bent her docile sails… More→

  • Belshazzar Had a Letter

    BELSHAZZAR had a letter — He never had but one; Belshazzar’s correspondent Concluded — and begun In that immortal copy… More→

  • The Brain Within Its Groove

    THE brain within its groove Runs evenly and true; But let a splinter swerve ’T were easier for you… More→