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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Poem 315“ by Emily Dickinson (1858?)
An early poem, with different dates attributed to its composition, which reflects the tensions and joys of Poem 937. Here the moment of unexpected and unanticipated emotional wrenching is described not as an ax attack but rather as a scalping from which the soul never recovers. She describes her emotional moment as though delivered by an “ethereal hammer,” the metaphor capturing the sense of an emotional and spiritual moment that nevertheless registers physically. The poem also underscores how desperately alone the poet feels despite the tectonic emotional moment that has left her devastated—the larger universe about her is quite still.
“There Was a Child Went Forth” by Walt Whitman (1855)
Whitman and Dickinson have come to be regarded as the sort of grandfather and grandmother of American poetry, their styles so different (Whitman broad and expansive; Dickinson claustrophobic and introspective), their poetic constructions so unique and so American. Dickinson was familiar with Whitman, although she professed disdain with his uncouth poetic lines, his unapologetically bawdy tone, and his risqué subject matter. But this iconic Whitman poem suggests more of an alignment. Published in the years leading up to Poem 937, the poem suggests the same sort of devastating emotional moment that Dickinson records.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson