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Emily Dickinson did not title her poems. “If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking” is actually the first line of the poem appearing as S07.10.051, meaning it was the 51st poem found within Set 7 on the 10th sheet among the bundles of poems Dickinson’s sister recovered after the poet’s death. Some scholars identify her poems by the numbers given to them by various editors: This poem was identified as 919 in the 1955 Thomas H. Franklin edition. The most definitive, recent edition is the R.W. Franklin variorum edition of 1998, and in it, this poem is 982. This said, it’s not difficult to see why many people identify Dickinson poems by their first lines. But it is important to know that the versions of some poems published in different forms over the years have substantive changes. In the Emily Dickinson Archive, the original handwritten version of “If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking” shows the text to be consistent with most published versions, though editors have changed line breaks and added punctuation.
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 Cleaving in my Mind
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
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