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EMILY DICKINSON (POEM DATE 1861?)

SOURCE: Dickinson, Emily. "271." In The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, pp. 123-24. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1960.

Literary scholars have speculated that the following poem by Dickinson was written circa 1861.

271

A solemn thing—it was—I said—
A woman—white—to be—
And wear—if God should count me fit—
Her blameless mystery—

A hallowed thing—to drop a life
Into the purple well—
Too plummetless—that it return—
Eternity—until—

I pondered how the bliss would look—
And would it feel as big—
When I could take it in my hand—
As hovering—seen—through fog—

And then—the size of this "small" life—
The Sages—call it small—
Swelled—like Horizons—in my vest—
And I...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Emily Dickinson (Poem Date 1861?)
   2. Emily Dickinson (Poem Date 1862?)
   3. Emily Dickinson (Poem Date 1862?)
   4. Emily Dickinson (Poem Date 1863?)
4. General Commentary
   1. Adrienne Rich (Essay Date 1976)
5. Title Commentary
   1. "A solemn thing—it was—I said" (Poem 271)
   2. "I dwell in Possibility—" (Poem 657)
   3. "Because I could not stop for Death—" (Poem 712)
6. Further Reading
7. Copyright

1. Emily Dickinson
2. Feminism