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Category: Emily Dickinson

  • Emily Dickinson’s “Garland for Queens, may be”

    The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s "Garland for Queens, may be" is paying tribute to the beautiful flower, the rose.  The treatment of this "Rose" contrasts greatly with the treatment of the "Little Rose" in Dickinson’s "Nobody knows this little Rose."
    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “Garland for Queens, may be”

    The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s “Garland for Queens, may be” is paying tribute to the beautiful flower, the rose.  The treatment of this “Rose” contrasts greatly with the treatment of the “Little Rose” in Dickinson’s “Nobody knows this little Rose.”

    Introduction with Text of “Garland for Queens, may be”

    The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s “Garland for Queens, may be” holds a ceremony to announce that holy orders have been bestowed on this certain “Rose” that she has encountered and is visiting.  

    The speaker begins by hinting at the traditional description of the nature of garlanding and bestowing laurels on royalty and on others who have excelled in certain areas of achievement.  

    The treatment of this “Rose” contrasts greatly with the treatment of the “Little Rose” in Emily Dickinson’s “Nobody knows this little Rose.”

    The speaker holds the rose in such high regard that she feels it deserves more credit than a simple observance of its beauty and wonderful fragrance would afford.   Instead of offering a poem of ordinary appreciation, she is offering her highly formalized ceremony to honor that rose.  

    While some may argue that such exaggeration borders on the pathetic fallacy, it should be noted that the elegance with which the poet has crafted her ceremony is simply offering a way of looking at a natural object, and that way is filled with love and appreciation.

    Garland for Queens, may be

    Garland for Queens, may be –
    Laurels – for rare degree
    Of soul or sword.
    Ah – but remembering me –
    Ah – but remembering thee –
    Nature in chivalry –
    Nature in charity –
    Nature in equity –
    This Rose ordained!

    Commentary on “Garland for Queens, may be”

    Honoring with a solemn and formalized tribute, the speaker makes the “Rose” the honored guest on whom she is bestowing holy orders.  Her love for the beauty of the rose allows her to set the flower alongside queens and other high achievers without trepidation.

    First Movement:  Traditional Yet Unique

    Garland for Queens, may be –
    Laurels – for rare degree
    Of soul or sword.

    The speaker begins her tribute by offering a unique defining description of the nature of the garland and laurels for queens.  Although her definition hints at the traditional employment of those items, she does stipulate that that employment “may be”—indicating that such laurels and garlands may also be at times other than residing within the framework of her unique definition.  

    The speaker does acknowledge that the presenting of “laurels” remains “rare.”   But they remain within the purview of “soul or sword.”  

    One becomes garlanded with laurels for some uncommon, special achievement within the realm of creativity of accomplishment in any number of areas such a literature, science, or even sports as marked by “soul” or likely even more often in the realm of patriotic defense of one’s nation through service in the nation’s military or for vanquishing enemies foreign or domestic, that is, by “sword.”

    Second Movement:  Back to Everyday

    Ah – but remembering me –
    Ah – but remembering thee – 

    The speaker’s opening remark of her tribute has taken her listeners to supernal realms often considered far from the ordinary, everyday life of the average citizen.  She thus brings the discourse back to herself and to her listeners.  

    She insists that while keeping in mind the profound and royal plane of the employment of garlands and laurels, we must include ourselves in the vast journey of accomplishment or what’s tradition for?

    The speaker quite literally commands through the present participle that minds take their attention from the high and mighty to the representatives of the vast ordinary—”me” and “thee.”  

    Her employment of the informal second person demonstrates the intimate nature that she gently guides her listeners to accept with her otherwise highly formalized tribute.  Without such intimacy, she knows their acceptance of her ultimate bestowal on a flower of such a claim as she intends to make would be impossible.

    Third Movement:  Deserving Qualities

    Nature in chivalry –
    Nature in charity –
    Nature in equity – 

    The speaker then directs her audience, whom she envisions as gathered for such as a coronation or ceremony, to visualize the bestowing of a garland of laurels upon an important personage.  She thus announces the qualities that the target of her tribute possesses.  The nature of that important target can be detected in three qualities that guarantee the superior achievement of the recipient: chivalry, charity, and equity.  

    That recipient excels in “chivalry,” as she places herself in the arms of those who celebrate important events such as birthdays, christenings, and even funerals.  The nature of the recipient also includes that quality of  excellence in offering “charity.”  

    Flowers bloom, spread their beauty, their fragrance freely, gayly, as well as chivalrously.  This particular flower remains fair and evenhanded (“equity”) on all occasions in which it is often featured.  

    Its nature allows it to ascend to all sensibilities through its various physical parts as well as its strong impression on the minds and hearts of those who are fortunate enough to have been offered the rose in bouquets.

    Fourth Movement:  Bestowal of Holy Orders

    This Rose ordained!

    Finally, the speaker reveals the target of her praise, the recipient of this garland of praise.  She reports that the “Rose” has been ordained, singled out for its special achievement in the areas she has just specified.  

    By employing the term “ordain,” the speaker implies that not only is the rose to be garlanded with the ordinary laurels for praise, but that this Rose is receiving holy orders.

    This Rose may now go forth during its summer of splendor and preach its beauty and its fragrance to all who are fortunate enough to behold it.  The beauty of this particular rose has motived this speaker to praise it to high heaven.  

    After pronouncing the importance of garlanded queens through sometimes even mundane circumstances and achievement, and after assigning near divine qualities to this rose, the speaker had nowhere else to go for praise but to bestow those holy orders on it.  

    And to this speaker the truth that the rose speaks to her allows her to view its beautiful blossom and to breathe in the marvelous fragrance of the rose with even more joy and abandon.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “If recollecting were forgetting”

    Image: Emily Dickinson - Amherst College - Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 - likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet
    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “If recollecting were forgetting”

    Emily Dickinson’s speaker in “If recollecting were forgetting” follows a line of thought that mirrors obliquely that of Aristotelian logic—searching for a way of thinking in order to find a way of knowing.

    Introduction with Text of “If recollecting were forgetting”

    Emily Dickinson has been noted for having read and studied widely in history, science, and philosophy, and this little poem could likely have happened after she happened upon the discourses of Aristotle’s Organon.  

    While her speaker seems to be employing, however creatively, the premise of the syllogism, her language choices are so direct and simple that she makes her position quite clear without engaging in the jargon of philosophical logic.

    If recollecting were forgetting

    If recollecting were forgetting,
    Then I remember not.
    And if forgetting, recollecting,
    How near I had forgot.
    And if to miss, were merry,
    And to mourn, were gay,
    How very blithe the fingers
    That gathered this, Today!

    Commentary on “If recollecting were forgetting”

    The speaker is exploring the nature of meaning as it intrudes upon the engagement of the human mind and heart with sorrow and mourning.

    First Movement:  Musing and Meaning

    If recollecting were forgetting,
    Then I remember not.

    The speaker is musing on the nature of meaning, employing the “if/then” structure:  “if” one event occurs, “then” another event follows.  She first employs what appears to be a paradox, rendering one act the opposite of itself.  

    She inverts hypothetically the literal meanings of “recollecting” and “forgetting.”  She is playing both a word game and a meaning game: if the opposite of one act is, in fact, its opposite, then what will happen?

    The speaker specifically claims that she would not “remember,” that is, she would not be “recollecting” if remember meant “forgetting.”  Ultimately, this seemingly confusing turnabout simply emphasizes her strong determination not to forget.  She does not offer any clue regarding what she might remember or forget, but such information is not necessary to this complex philosophically juxtapostional cogitation.  

    The delineation regarding the definition of opposites renders thought both wavy and stationary.  The “if” clause introduces the meaning trade-off, while the “then” clause states a definitive claim.  The mind weaves in considering the “if” clause that reverses the meaning of the terms involved but then returns to a stationary position in order to accept the “then” clause.

    Second Movement:  The Emphasis of Reversal

    And if forgetting, recollecting,
    How near I had forgot.

    In the second movement, the speaker continues her musing on transference but in reverse.   Interestingly, this “if” clause juxtaposition does not result in the same event as when the very same two terms were first offered in opposition to each other. Instead of a stationary claim, the speaker now asserts that she merely got close to “forgetting.” 

     As readers refer back to her original claim in the first movement, they are struck by the fact that she is saying she prizes remembrance over forgetfulness—unsurprising that this speaker of minimalism would make such a choice.

    Of course, in the pairs of opposites that drive the world living under the delusive spell of maya, one of the pairs is nearly always a positive for the good while its opposite is usually considered negative, representing the opposite of good.  In the pairs of opposites focused on here—to forget vs. to remember—the obvious positive of the pair is to remember.

    The complexity of the second premise does lend itself to the difference that the speaker has infixed in the contrast she had created between the first two movements.  That she nearly forgot, but did not completely forget, demonstrates her favoring the positive peg of the pair of opposites, forgetting and remembering.  Thus, if she recalled, which is actually forgetting, she approached that state but did not enter it as she did in the first movement when remembering was actually forgetting.

    Third Movement:   Missing and Mourning

    And if to miss, were merry,
    And to mourn, were gay,

    Having resolved the issue of forgetting and remembering, the speaker moves on to a new set of opposites which are not of the same paired quality as those with which she began in the first two movements.  She is now simply reversing the traditionally accepted nature of missing and mourning.  When an individual is missing a loved one, that individual mourns.  

    When the human heart and mind mourn, they are anything but “gay,” that is, happy or cheerful.  But then the speaker makes it clear that she intends to follow the same line of thinking that she has explored in the two opening movements, the “if/then” structure.  

    But the “then” part of the structure has to wait to be expressed in the next movement because the speaker has now focused on two encompassing acts, not merely word meaning.  If missing someone were considered a happy, cheerful situation instead of “mourn[ing]” that loss, and if mourning the loss, or missing someone were considered also happy, cheerful, then what happens?  

    Instead of an exact tit-for-tat, that is, meaning for meaning, the speaker has offered two negative acts as representing a positive, setting up a mystery as to how this situation can be resolved.

    Fourth Movement:  Nullification or Homogenization

    How very blithe the fingers
    That gathered this, Today!

    Finally, the speaker concludes the implied “then” clause with the excited utterance indicating that the person who has concocted this little exercise has remained cheerfully unconcerned with it all.

     If all that went before were the actual situation instead of being their opposites, then those “fingers” responsible for “gather[ing]” this philosophical pastiche would be proven to be mindlessly unimpressive.  

    “Today!” placed with an exclamation mark heralds the excited notion that turning things upside down in order to look at them from a new position in the present, instead of accepting the pain and anguish of the past and dealing with it.  

    This bizarre heralding impels the mind to stiffen like “blithe . . . fingers.”  Fingers that are heedless, indifferent, and uncaring represent the mind that drives the fingers.  Quite obviously, fingers cannot gather, think, move, or do anything without the mind first engaging with an idea that will drive the activity.  Thus, it is the mind that is blithe working through the fingers.  

    The philosophical result of the four movements concludes that while the positive may be chosen by the masterfully thinking, moving mind, a simple juxtaposition that renders one quality its opposite may rearrange the very atoms of the brain that then will create a world that does not exist and never can.  The push for dominance of one pair of any pair of opposites will result in the nullification or homogenization of any blinkered philosophical stance.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed”

    Image: Emily Dickinson - Amherst College - Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 - likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet
    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed”

    Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” is one of her most enthralling little poems.  In this poem, the speaker is likening spiritual ardor to drunkenness.

    Introduction and Text of  “I taste a liquor never brewed”

    The theme of Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” is similar to Paramahansa Yogananda’s chant: “I will sing thy Name,  I will drink thy Name, and get all drunk, O, with thy Name!”   

    Dickinson’s speaker proclaims a spiritual consciousness. The poem extends the metaphor of drunkenness to describe the status of a soul in mystical union with the Divine.

    Dickinson’s speaker in “I taste a liquor never brewed” describes a consciousness steeped in a mystical state that mimics inebriation. She is inspired and enthralled seemingly just by breathing the air around her.  

    The speaker’s consciousness becomes aware of itself and propels her into an immense universe that is difficult to describe. Thus she uses the alcohol metaphor to approximate the physical sensation of what she is experiencing spiritually.

    Thomas H. Johnson numbered this poem #214 in his useful work, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, which restored Dickinson’s peculiar punctuation and elliptical style. As usual, Dickinson employed slant rime or near rime; for example, she rimes Pearl and Alcohol.

    I taste a liquor never brewed

    I 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 – thro endless summer days –
    From inns of Molten Blue –

    When “Landlords” turn the drunken Bee
    Out of the Foxglove’s door –
    When Butterflies – renounce their “drams” –
    I shall but drink the more!

    Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats –
    And Saints – to windows run –
    To see the little Tippler
    Leaning against the – Sun —

    Commentary on “I taste a liquor never brewed”

    Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” is one of the poet’s most enthralling little poems, employing the metaphor of drunkenness to describe spiritual ardor.

    Stanza 1:  Imbibing a Non-Brewed Beverage

    I taste a liquor never brewed –
    From Tankards scooped in Pearl –
    Not all the Vats upon the Rhine
    Yield such an Alcohol!

    The speaker announces that she has been imbibing a drink, but that beverage is not one that has been brewed, which eliminates alcohol, tea, and coffee, this is, the beverages which have mind-altering capabilities.  She then begins an extended metaphor, likening the effect of her “liquor” to that of an alcoholic beverage.

    The “Tankards scooped in Pearl” simulate the vessels from which the speaker has been imbibing her rare concoction. The consciousness which the speaker wishes to describe transcends the physical consciousness of an alcohol hum; thus the speaker must resort to metaphor to communicate as nearly as possible this ineffable state.

    Those rare tankards having been “scooped in Pearl” spiritually correspond to the nature of the soul. She has, in fact, drunk a beverage that has not been brewed from a vessel that has not been manufactured by human hands.

    Stanza 2: It Resembles Being Drunk

    Inebriate of Air – am I –
    And Debauchee of Dew –
    Reeling – thro endless summer days –
    From inns of Molten Blue –

    Dickinson’s speaker continues her metaphor by revealing that the feeling she is experiencing is like being drunk on air; thus the act of simply taking a breath of air has the power to intoxicate her. 

    Not only air, but the “Dew” has this delicious effect. Further physical realities like a summer day make her feel that she has been drinking at a tavern, “Inns of Molten Blue.” All this imbibing leaves her “reeling” from this rare form of intoxicant.

    Stanza 3:  A Drunken State That Never Ceases

    When “Landlords” turn the drunken Bee
    Out of the Foxglove’s door –
    When Butterflies – renounce their “drams” –
    I shall but drink the more!

    On the stage of nature, the speaker is accompanied by “bees and butterflies,” and these fellow creatures quite literally imbibe nectar from flowers. The speaker’s brand of liquor has an advantage over that of the bees.  They have to stop their imbibing and leave their blossoms or else they will become trapped as the petals close up for the night.  

    But because of the spiritual nature of this speaker’s intoxication, she does not have stop drinking. She can enjoy her drunken state without end.   Only on the physical plane do activities begin and end; on the spiritual plane, the intoxication has no need to cease. The eternal soul is without boundaries of space and time.

    Stanza 4;  The Dash That Runs to Eternity

    Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats –
    And Saints – to windows run –
    To see the little Tippler
    Leaning against the – Sun –

    The speaker boasts that she will never have to curtail her mode of mystical intoxication. As the penultimate stanza ends with the claim, “I shall but drink the more!,” the idea continues into the final stanza.  By placing the time of her stopping her drinking at two fantastic events that will never occur, she emphatically asserts that she will never have to stop her drinking binge.

    When the highest order of angels, the “Seraphs,” commit the unlikely act of “swing[ing] their snowy Hats,” and curious saints run to windows, only then shall she cease her imbibing. That time is never because Seraphs and saints do not comport themselves with such behavior. 

    The speaker calls herself “the little Tippler” and positions herself “[l]eaning against the — Sun.” Another impossible act on the physical level, but one quite possible on the mystical.

    The final clue that the speaker is asserting her ability never to stop drinking of the mystical wine is the final punctuation of the dash — that concludes her report. The period, question mark, or exclamation mark, as some editors have employed, denote finality while the dash does not.

    Thomas H. Johnson has restored the dash — to this poem in his The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. When other versions lose the Dickinsonian dash, they also lose a nuance of her meaning.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “When Roses cease to bloom, Sir”

    Image: Emily Dickinson - Amherst College - Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 - likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet
    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “When Roses cease to bloom, Sir”

    Emily Dickinson’s “When Roses cease to bloom, Sir” features prominently a surprising demand of the Divine Belovèd Creator. The Dickinsonian speaker always holds in great reverence and regard the Creator of the cosmic universe and all of earthly nature.

    Introduction with Text of “When Roses cease to bloom, Sir”

    Emily Dickinson’s poem, “When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,” demonstrates the poet’s depth of scientific knowledge of the world as well as her insight into the spiritual significance that such scientific knowledge implies for human evolution.

    The poem features prominently a surprising demand of the Divine Belovèd Creator. The Dickinsonian speaker always holds in great reverence and regard the Creator of the cosmic universe and all of earthly nature. 

    She dramatizes in poetic form her physical world observations to reveal her awareness of the Divine Creator’s existence both within the natural world and outside of that natural world, extending into the realm of spirit.

    The octave is structured by a “when-then” time sequence: when one thing happens, then the other may be expected to happen or may be desired to happen. In this poem, the structure adds a complex sub-feature to the equation. 

    Not only is the speaker offering a “when” structure that encompasses three natural phenomena of plant and animal kingdom activity, but she is also adding a third element from the human realm to the “when” clause.

    The speaker has thus inserted herself into the narrative in an unobtrusive way through the employment of the synecdochic”hand.” After setting up the “when” application, she engages her own action and then offers the second half of the “when-then” function. 

    That “then” application, however, delivers a subtle demand of the Belovèd Creator—one that may at first appear somewhat shocking but yet remains comprehensible and infinitely appropriate.

    When Roses cease to bloom, Sir

    When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,
    And Violets are done –
    When Bumblebees in solemn flight
    Have passed beyond the Sun –
    The hand that paused to gather
    Upon this Summer’s day
    Will idle lie – in Auburn –
    Then take my flowers – pray!

    “When Roses cease to bloom, Sir” rendered in song  

    Commentary on “When Roses cease to bloom, Sir”

    Emily Dickinson’s “When Roses cease to bloom, Sir” demonstrates the poet’s depth of knowledge of the science of the evolutionary progress, as well as her insight into the spiritual significance that such knowledge suggests for the human mind and heart on its path through evolutionary advancement.

    First Movement:  Emphasis on Beauty

    When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,
    And Violets are done –

    The speaker begins the “when” function by addressing the Divine Ineffable Reality.  She suggests that she will be asking for some favor after flowers have come and gone.   She allows “Roses” and “Violets” to represent all natural vegetation, which would include all plants growing in the fields, along the streets, and in her own vegetable garden.  

    By allowing only two lovely flowers to represent all of the plant kingdom, the speaker is demonstrating her emphasis on her love of beauty.   The speaker then demonstrates that she is including both domesticated plants—roses, and those that continue to grow wild—violets.  

    The Blessèd Author of creation as well as the speaker’s listeners/readers are invited to observe that the speaker keeps her mind firmly on her goal, her own creation of beauty and engagement in health and wholesomeness.

    Second Movement:  Evolution from Plant to Animal

    When Bumblebees in solemn flight
    Have passed beyond the Sun –

    The speaker then turns to the animal kingdom, allowing the simple bumblebee to represent that kingdom.  The “Bumblebees” have engaged in “solemn flight” and like the roses and violets are now passing out of existence.  

    Unlike the rose that “cease[s] to bloom” and the violet whose passing out of existence is qualified as merely “done,” the bee, an evolutionarily higher-stationed member of the animal kingdom, “pass[es] beyond the Sun.”  

    The speaker makes the distinction between the two kingdoms in this marvelously ingenious way–how they cease their summer sojourn.   As flowers simply pass away by simple cessation, the bees have engaged in the physical act of moving, which is denied plants rooted to the earth; thus, the speaker creates the bees’ metaphorical passing beyond light.  

    Even though the souls of all those creatures remain distinct entities in the mind of their Creator, they express in very different ways according to their current incarnation on earth, representative of their individual and collective karma.  It is only natural that the higher evolved bee would demonstrate an ability beyond that of the lower plant world.  

    And the speaker’s ability to place this distinction in such a minimalist setting demonstrates this speaker’s understanding regarding the existence of the hierarchy to which earthly creatures remain attached until their final liberation.   All created beings must pass through this hierarchical system on their way from lowest to highest form on the evolutionary scale.

    Third Movement:  The Human in Creation

    The hand that paused to gather
    Upon this Summer’s day

    The speaker has now quit her focus on the plant and animal kingdoms and is focusing on the simple human feature of a “hand,” a synecdochic representative of the human physical encasement.  

    That hand pauses.  Instead of moving to pluck and collect those flowers before they are gone, this hand leaves them in place.  Instead of shooing away the bees, the speaker simply takes the measure of their movement, while fashioning the observation that distinguishes the flowers from the bees. 

    All summer long, the speaker has observed the bees extracting nectar from the flowers.    The relationship between the flowers and the nectar-gathering bees has impressed upon the mind of the speaker the symbiotic relationship that exists in nature and that extends to the human being as an integral part of that natural scenario.

    But the speaker now holds her request of the Divine Creator until she has described her own situation, her own participation in the drama that she has created in the garden of her mind, heart, and soul.  

    Her poetic garden contains multitudes, and the ability to grow metaphorical, metaphysical flowers, bees, human hands remains her greatest challenge and strongest ability.

    Fourth Movement:  The Metaphysical Garden of Verse

    Will idle lie – in Auburn –
    Then take my flowers – pray!

    That human hand that pauses does so to continue its construction of her own metaphysical, poetic creation—that original garden into which she had early on invited her brother to visit.  

    After that hand becomes “idle,” it will cease creating those metaphysical flowers and those metaphysical bees.   Therefore, the speaker then demands of the Belovèd “Sir” that He “take [her] flowers”—adding for emphasis, “pray!”  

    After the speaker herself has ceased blooming and flying beyond the sun and pausing from the labor of metaphorical, metaphysical garden creation, her physical form will exist like a bug in amber and become unresponsive and “lie – in Auburn.”   Thus, the clever speaker is requesting through a strong demand that the Divine Gardener accept her metaphysical flowers.  

    Such a demand may seem infinitely cheeky of a mere created child of the Master Creator of the Cosmos, but the speaker has demonstrated repeatedly that she remains steadfast in her devotion and confident in her ability to create flowers—offerings—that are acceptable to a most discriminating Divine Creator.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “Adrift!  A little boat adrift!”

    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “Adrift!  A little boat adrift!”

    In Emily Dickinson’s skilled employment of paradox and metaphor in her poem “Adrift!  A little boat adrift!,” the speaker offers a complex drama played out seemingly on an earthly ocean but actually performed on the mystical sea, where life remains immortal and eternal.

    Introduction and Text of “Adrift! A little boat adrift!”

    Emily Dickinson enjoyed the riddle essence of poetry.  She often employed that riddle essence in which she implies or directly asks a question.  Other times, she simply offers her rather detailed description and allows the reader to answer.  In this little drama, she elides the physical universe with the spiritual universe.  

    Metaphorically comparing the human being to a “little boat” floating without a guide on the sea of life, she deliberately sinks that boat before resurrecting that drowned life through the agency of the human soul, which cannot be drowned but which possesses all the power of its Creator to demolish all human suffering.

    Adrift! A little boat adrift!

    Adrift! A little boat adrift!
    And night is coming down!
    Will no one guide a little boat
    Unto the nearest town?

    So Sailors say – on yesterday –
    Just as the dusk was brown
    One little boat gave up its strife
    And gurgled down and down.

    So angels say – on yesterday –
    Just as the dawn was red
    One little boat – o’erspent with gales –
    Retrimmed its masts – redecked its sails –
    And shot – exultant on!

    Commentary on “Adrift! A little boat adrift!”

    This little drama offers a useful example of Dickinson’s most intense style, featuring her use of the riddle and her mystic appraisal of the human mind and heart, influenced by the human soul, whose guidance may seem rudderless, until that guidance becomes crucial.

    First Stanza:  Report of Danger

    Adrift! A little boat adrift!
    And night is coming down!
    Will no one guide a little boat
    Unto the nearest town?

    The speaker begins with an exclamation revealing that danger is on the horizon in the form of a small watercraft floating about unguided by a knowing pilot.  Such a situation alerts the reader/listener that all sorts of calamity could ensue. 

    To make matters worse, nightfall is fast approaching.  An unguided vessel drifting into the nighttime brings down a veil of fright and concern.  Again the speaker is exclaiming for again she places the exclamation mark at the end of her brief outcry!

    The speaker then cries for assistance for the little drifting sea craft, but instead of a command, she frames the cry as a question with a negative emphasis, “[w]ill no one . . . ?”  She demonstrates that she suspects there is no one who will chaperone and usher this little vessel to a safe harbor, such as to “the nearest town.”

    The painful negativity suggested by the speaker early on in her little drama foreshadows the ultimate outcome in her conclusion.  She alerts her listeners that a likely catastrophe is on the horizon.  

    But truly alert readers/listeners will suspend judgment until the conclusion is revealed, for Emily Dickinson can be as tricky as any poet writing.  She can out-trick Robert Frost by miles and miles. 

    Second Stanza:  Disaster

    So Sailors say – on yesterday –
    Just as the dusk was brown
    One little boat gave up its strife
    And gurgled down and down.

    The speaker continues her report of the disastrous fate of this “little boat.”  It has been reported by “Sailors,” those who would know, that this little sea vessel that so valiantly struggled nevertheless gave up the ghost and let the sea take it down into its depths.

    The time of this sinking was dusk when the color of sunset spread its brown, saddening haze upon the land and sea.  The sailors have reported that the vessel simply “gave up” because it could not overcome its “strife.”  

    It gave up its life, its cargo, all that was precious within it.  It gave up and then went down with gurgling sounds–the sound of a living throat taking on water that will ultimately drown it.

    The speaker has created a scenario of such pain and suffering that can only be assuaged with extraordinary finesse.  The sinking of a little boat remains a sorrowful image, and the speaker has seared that painful image into the inner sight of her listeners/readers.  She has dramatized the events surrounding that image in such a way as to heighten the pain and anguish experienced by her audience.

    Third Stanza:  Safety at Last

    So angels say – on yesterday –
    Just as the dawn was red
    One little boat – o’erspent with gales –
    Retrimmed its masts – redecked its sails –
    And shot – exultant on!

    Finally, the speaker quickly pulls the readers/listeners minds from the earthly tragedy on the physical level of existence on which the sinking of a sea craft causes pain and suffering.  Despite what the “Sailors” have reported, there is another report by higher beings that will impart a different engagement, a different outcome of this earthly event.

    Now, the report is brought by “angels.”  The higher, mystical beings are reporting that this event happened the same day as the earthly report “yesterday.”  But the time was early morning when “dawn was red,” setting up a dichotomy from yesterday when “dusk was brown.”

    Instead of merely going down “gurgl[ing],” this little vessel when faced with ferocious “gales,” fought valiantly:  it transformed itself by reshaping it “masts” and reinstalling stronger and better sea-worthy “sails.”  

    And after it completed those repairs, it sped past all earthy danger and triumphantly entered into the realm of mystic life (Christians call it “Heaven”) where no water can drown, no storm can toss, and no pain and suffering can stifle.

    Paradox and Metaphor

    Upon first encounter, the reader will detect what seems to be a contradiction or impossibility because of a reversal of two time periods.  In the second stanza, it is reported that the little boat sank yesterday at “dusk.”  But then in the third stanza, it is reported that the little boat encountered its difficulty yesterday at “dawn.”  

    The resolution of this paradox is accomplished through the realization that on the spiritual, mystical level of being, time remains eminently malleable.  At the time the “little boat” experienced it difficulty, it realized its immortal, eternal aspect.

    It became aware that it is, in fact, a spark of the Eternal, and therefore nothing can harm it.  It realized that stature at dawn, thus by the time dusk had arrived to take its physical form, its mystic/spiritual form–or soul–had moved on.

    This poem may be considered one of Emily Dickinson’s riddle poems. Although it does not seem to call for answering a riddle question, readers cannot fail to grasp that the “little boat” is a metaphor for a human being. 

    This metaphor becomes obvious, however, only after the angels offer their report.  The “little boat” then is revealed to possess the human ability to realize its special power, its mystical spark, and its ability to transcend earthly trials and tribulations.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “If those I loved were lost”

    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “If those I loved were lost”

    The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s “If those I loved were lost” is emphasizing the value she places on her loved ones.  She likens their importance to significant events from the community level to the world stage, where bells ring to announce important happenings.

    Introduction and Text of “If those I loved were lost” 

    Emily Dickinson’s “If those I loved were lost” features two stanzas, each with two movements.  The speaker’s musing targets how the speaker would react to both losing and finding loved ones.  Her emotions and behaviors signal the importance of those loved ones to her.  The value she places on these individuals can only be suggested and not directly stated.

    If those I loved were lost 

    If those I loved were lost
    The Crier’s voice would tell me –
    If those I loved were found
    The bells of Ghent would ring –

    Did those I loved repose
    The Daisy would impel me.
    Philip – when bewildered
    Bore his riddle in!

    Commentary on “If those I loved were lost” 

    This highly allusive poem takes readers from life in a small village to the world stage, on which famous bells herald momentous events.  The allusions emphasize the significance the speaker places on those to whom she refers. 

    First Movement:   An Important Announcement 

    If those I loved were lost
    The Crier’s voice would tell me –

    The speaker is speculating about her emotions and behaviors after having lost a loved one, and then she adds a speculative note about those emotions and behavior as she suddenly has found a beloved. 

    The first movement finds the speaker claiming that the loss of a loved one would herald a “Crier” to announce the event.  In earlier times, a “town crier” was employed to spread local news events on the streets of small villages.   

    The town crier’s position was noticeable because of his manner and elaborate dress:  such a crier might be adorned in bright colors, a coat of red and gold with white pants, a three-cornered hat (tricon), and black boots.  He usually carried a bell that he would ring to attract attention of the citizens.  He often would begin his announcement with the cry, “Oyez!  Oyez!  Oyez!” 

    By making this simple claim that a “crier” would be letting her know about the loss of a loved one, the speaker is elevating the importance of everyone she loves to the status of a noted official or famous name in the community.  

    Second Movement:  The Significance of Loss 

    If those I loved were found
    The bells of Ghent would ring – 

    The speaker then alludes to the famous Ghent Belfry, whose construction began in 1313 with ringing bells to announce religious events, later employed to signal other important occurrences.    

    The inscription on the belfry tower indicates the historical and legendary important of the construction:   “My name is Roland. When I toll there is fire. /  When I ring there is victory in the land.” 

    Dickinson was likely aware of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s lines, “Till the bell of Ghent responded o’er lagoon and dike of sand, I am Roland! I am Roland! there is victory in the land!”   

    Because the famous bells ring to herald important events, the speaker assigns great importance to the fact that she has found a loved one.  Thus the speaker has molded her losing and finding those she loves into great and momentous events. 

    Third Movement:  Daisy and Death 

    Did those I loved repose
    The Daisy would impel me.

    The speaker then speculates about her reaction to the death of her loved ones.  She refers to the flower, the “Daisy,” stating that it would “impel her.”  The employment of the Daisy is likely prompted by the flower’s association with growing on graves as in Keats’ reference in the following excerpt from one of his letter to a friend:  

    I shall soon be laid in the quiet grave – thank God for the quiet grave – O! I can feel the cold earth upon me – the daisies growing over me – O for this quiet – it will be my first. 

    And, too, there is the old expression, “pushing up daisies,” of which Dickinson was, no doubt, aware.  The flower would drive her to some of kind reaction which she fails to describe but only hints at.  Although she simply suggests her reaction, she leaves a significant clue in the next movement, as she alludes again to Ghent, this time the leader named Philip.

    Fourth Movement:  The Riddle of Loss

    Philip – when bewildered
    Bore his riddle in!

    The speaker is then alluding to Philip van Artevelde (1340–82), who was a popular Flemish leader. He led a successful battle against the count of Flanders, but later met defeat and death.  The Dickinson household library contained a book with a play that featured Philip’s last words before dying, “What have I done?  Why such a death?  Why thus?”

    Thus the speaker makes it known that she would have many questions as she struggles with the death of a loved one.  She would, like Philip, be overcome, having to bear such a “riddle.” 

    The speaker has shown how important and necessary her loved ones are to her, and she has also demonstrated that their loss would be devastating, and she has done all this through suggestions and hints, without any direct statement of pain and anguish.  All of the sorrow is merely suggested by the high level of importance she is assigning to her loved ones.  

  • Emily Dickinson’s “So has a Daisy vanished”

    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “So has a Daisy vanished”

    The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s “So has a Daisy vanished” wonders if the dead Daisy and other departing plant creatures of the field have gone off to be “with God.” 

    Introduction and Text of “So has a Daisy vanished”

    The speaker of Emily Dickinson’s “So has a Daisy vanished,” who has a keen ability to observe her natural surroundings, has been moved to wonder about the soul of “a Daisy” and many other “slipper[s]” who have given up their physical encasements of beautiful blooms and glorious green stems and simply vanished.  She wonders where they went, as she dramatizes their final days of earthly glory.

    So has a Daisy vanished

    So has a Daisy vanished
    From the fields today –
    So tiptoed many a slipper
    To Paradise away –

    Oozed so in crimson bubbles
    Day’s departing tide –
    Blooming – tripping – flowing
    Are ye then with God?

    Commentary on “So has a Daisy vanished”

    The speaker in this brief drama wonders if the dead Daisy and other departing plant creatures of the field have gone off to be “with God.”

    First Stanza:  A Flower in Heaven

    So has a Daisy vanished
    From the fields today –
    So tiptoed many a slipper
    To Paradise away –

    The speaker begins with a statement informing her readers and listeners that a lovely flower has gone, disappeared “from the fields today.”  She begins with the conjunctive adverb “so,” seeming to indicate that she is merely taking up a thought that began somewhere else and at an earlier interval.   

    Then again employing the telling “so,” the speaker adds that many other flowers have also tripped off to “Paradise.”  Along with the lovely “Daisy,” the other “slipper[s]” have all gone missing, but the speaker suggests that they have metaphorically died and gone to Heaven.  While the “Daisy” has rather generically “vanished,” the others have “tiptoed” off “to Paradise.”

    The speaker is playing with the language of loss, which almost always produces a melancholy in the very sensitive hearts of keen observers.  Instead of merely dying, the flowers vanish from the fields and tiptoe away.  

    That they all have metaphorically gone on to “Paradise” demonstrates that the faith and courage of the sensitive heart of this deep observer are fully operational.  That the speaker allows that these creatures of nature have gone to Heaven or Paradise shows that she has a firm grasp on the existence of the soul as a permanent life force that plants as well as animals possess. 

    This speaker understands that all life is divinely endowed.  The flowers leave behind their physical encasements, but they take their soul encasement and then scurry off to the astral world, from where they will likely return to the Earth or some other planet to continue working out their karma–an eventuality that informs the procedure for the animal kingdom as well.

    Second Stanza:  To Be with the Divine Creator

    Oozed so in crimson bubbles
    Day’s departing tide –
    Blooming – tripping – flowing
    Are ye then with God?

    While the speaker remains aware that plant life force is as eternal as that of the animal kingdom, she is not so sure about where each individual plant goes after its demise.  Thus she wonders if they are “with God.”  

    Likely influenced by the Christian concepts of Heaven and Hell, the speaker no doubt wonders if plant behavior while on Earth may require a reckoning that leads to Heaven or Hell.  That she asks in the more affirmative mood demonstrates her optimistic sensitivity.

    Paramahansa Yogananda has likened life on Earth to vanishing bubbles.  He has explained that many deep thinking philosophers, sages, and poets have realized that the things of this world are like bubbles in the ocean; those individual things such as stars, flowers, animals, and people suddenly appear, experience a life only for a brief period of time, and then they disappear as swiftly as they appeared.

    In his poem, “Vanishing Bubbles,” the great yogi dramatizes that brief earthly sojourn of the myriad life forms, as he unearths the solution for those sensitive minds and hearts that grieve after the loss of those individuals whom they had loved and who yet must vanish like bubbles. 

    And that solution is the simple knowledge that although the physical encasement of each individual has indeed vanished, the soul of each individual continues to exist; therefore, there is no actual vanishing or death.

    The speaker in Dickinson’s poem is suggesting that she is aware of the eternal, everlasting nature of the soul.  After the lovely bloom has been maneuvered into the world on “crimson bubbles,” it will live its brief life, prancing about with the breeze, and then with the “departing tide,” its day will come to an end,  but only for its physical encasement, which it will leave behind.  

    The speaker knows that its soul–its life force–will continue, and she wonders if those souls of all those lovely flowers she has been enjoying will then be “with God.”  That she would ask hints that she believes the answer is yes.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “Morns like these – we parted”

    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “Morns like these – we parted”

    Emily Dickinson loved nature, and birds appear often in her poems, her spiritual garden. She also was quite fond of mystery and riddles. This poem offers an accumulation of evidence that she has observed a bird and then poof! one human act and the bird takes wing!

    Introduction and Text of “Morns like these – we parted”

    Emily Dickinson’s speaker in her riddle-poem, “Morns like these – we parted,” is creating a drama from the act of bird-watching, as the act covers a single day from the time of morning when one bird and she parted company to the act of evening drawing the curtains, simultaneously hearing the bird fly off to its own abode or to wherever it may be taking for its destination.

    The mental gymnastics of the speaker reveals a special gift of qualifying the experience of the human mind, intrigued by the bird’s ability to fly in the freedom of the open skies, indicating that this drama has often played out in the speaker’s mind. 

    Morns like these – we parted

    Morns like these – we parted –
    Noons like these – she rose –
    Fluttering first – then firmer
    To her fair repose.

    Never did she lisp it –
    It was not for me–
    She – was mute from transport –
    I – from agony –

    Till – the evening nearing
    One the curtains drew –
    Quick! A sharper rustling!
    And this linnet flew!


    Commentary on “Morns like these – we parted”

    Emily Dickinson’s “Morns like these – we parted” offers an accumulation of evidence that the speaker has observed a bird and then poof! one human act and the bird takes wing!

    First Stanza:  Observing a Bird

    Morns like these – we parted –
    Noons like these – she rose –
    Fluttering first – then firmer
    To her fair repose.

    Observing the behavior of feathered friends, the speaker reports that on certain mornings she has watched as a bird makes its way heavenward, leaving her earthbound but astounded by the ability of an earth creature to fly through the sky. 

    In addition to morning flights, she has experienced the magic also around noontime.  The creature with wings first may seem to merely “flutter[ ],” but then suddenly with more determined gait glided to its chosen destination.

    Second Stanza:  Experiencing Awe

    Never did she lisp it –
    It was not for me–
    She – was mute from transport –
    I – from agony –

    As the bird begins its magical journey, it does not communicate vocally in song or chirp to the speaker’s presence.  Having nothing to impart to its observer, it merely begins its flight.  The speaker assumes that the bird’s silence is caused merely by her “transport” of the felicity of light.  

    The speaker remains “mute” merely from “agony”—the sudden awareness that one will remain earthbound while this marvelous creature will ascend and vanish skyward.  The earth-bound creatures can only watch, think, muse, and then attempt to recreate the feathered, flying creatures actions in a written composition. 

    Third Stanza:  The Close of a Drama

    Till – the evening nearing
    One the curtains drew –
    Quick! A sharper rustling!
    And this linnet flew!

    All of this drama of observation and bird flight goes on from morning to evening, nigh to which someone in the home closes the curtains at the window.  From without comes the “rustling” sound, which is quick and sharp, as the bird—now identified as a “linnet” flies off to parts unknown to the speaker/observer, but likely known well to the bird.  

    The speaker’s attention has been suddenly snipped by this final sudden movement of the flying creature which she has so patiently watched in wonder.  The speaker’s mind has flown with the bird, waited as the bird waited, now drops its object as the bird has rustled its feathers for the last time that day and flown off to God only knows whither.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “There is a morn by men unseen”

    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “There is a morn by men unseen”

    The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s “There is a morn by men unseen” is looking at a scene behind the mystic curtain that divides the ordinary world from the extraordinary world, where spirits dwell and have their being.

    Introduction and  Excerpt from “There is a morn by men unseen”

    The speaker of Emily Dickinson’s “There is morn by men unseen” has likely been observing the beauty of a morning in May, when the greening of earth is becoming lush with new brightness.  

    This exceptional beauty motivates the speaker to intuit that even brighter mornings exist beyond the confines of this earth where the souls of departed loved ones are celebrating in their own way, just as she is celebrating the beauty of this earthly spring morning.

    There is a morn by men unseen

    There is a morn by men unseen –
    Whose maids upon remoter green
    Keep their Seraphic May –
    And all day long, with dance and game,
    And gambol I may never name –
    Employ their holiday.

    Here to light measure, move the feet
    Which walk no more the village street –
    Nor by the wood are found –
    Here are the birds that sought the sun
    When last year’s distaff idle hung
    And summer’s brows were bound.

    Ne’er saw I such a wondrous scene –
    Ne’er such a ring on such a green –
    Nor so serene array –
    As if the stars some summer night
    Should swing their cups of Chrysolite –
    And revel till the day –

    Like thee to dance – like thee to sing –
    People upon the mystic green –
    I ask, each new May Morn.
    I wait thy far, fantastic bells –
    Announcing me in other dells –
    Unto the different dawn!

    Commentary on “There is a morn by men unseen”

    The speaker of this Dickinson poem is observing and reporting on a scene that she intuits which exists behind the mystic curtain dividing the ordinary world from the extraordinary world, where souls dwell and have their being.

    First Stanza:  Not an Ordinary Scene

    There is a morn by men unseen –
    Whose maids upon remoter green
    Keep their Seraphic May –
    And all day long, with dance and game,
    And gambol I may never name –
    Employ their holiday.

    The speaker hints that she will be describing a locus out of this world because ordinary, day to day folks have not seen it.  In this fabulous place, the young women frolic upon a “green” that is far removed from that of the ordinary existence.  These beings observe  their “holiday” with “dance and game,” and their weather remains perfect, a “Seraphic May.” 

    The speaker avers that these beings also employ activities that she is not privy to “name.”  The reader will note that she does not say that she does not know what those activities are, but just that she cannot put a label on them.

    Second Stanza:  Beyond the Ordinary

    Here to light measure, move the feet
    Which walk no more the village street –
    Nor by the wood are found –
    Here are the birds that sought the sun
    When last year’s distaff idle hung
    And summer’s brows were bound.

    The speaker makes it quite clear that the scene and the people she is describing are no longer part of this world; thus she offers the strong suggestion they have departed this earth, that is, their souls have left their bodies through death.  

    The lines, “move the feet / Which walk no more the village street – / Nor by the wood are found,” report the fact that those about whom she speaks no longer inhabit this mud ball of planet earth.

    At the same time, the speaker is making it clear that she is not setting up a dichotomy between the city and country.  Those feet that no  longer “walk the village street” also no longer walk in the “wood.”  

    She then reports that the souls of birds who have departed the earth are also here.  While on earth they had “sought the sun” after summer had relinquished its short lease on time.

    Third Stanza:  Mysticism of the Stars

    Ne’er saw I such a wondrous scene –
    Ne’er such a ring on such a green –
    Nor so serene array –
    As if the stars some summer night
    Should swing their cups of Chrysolite –
    And revel till the day –

    The speaker then remarks about the uniqueness of this fantastic scene, for never before has she observed such a “wondrous scene” with mystic activities continuing on such a phosphorescent color of beings and movements.  The serenity of the scene also strikes the speaker with its stature of uniqueness.

    The speaker then attempts to compare the scene she has observed to what it might look like if upon any given “summer night” the stars were to be seen frolicking and “swing[ing] their cups of Chrysolite,” or offering up toasts as noisy, happy, party revelers are wont to do. 

    The employment of the heavenly bodies offers the strong hint that the speaker has engaged her considerable mystic vision in order to describe a scene that she has only intuited but not directly experienced.

    Fourth Stanza:  Awaiting Her Own Arrival

    Like thee to dance – like thee to sing –
    People upon the mystic green –
    I ask, each new May Morn.
    I wait thy far, fantastic bells –
    Announcing me in other dells –
    Unto the different dawn!

    The speaker then addresses the Divine Reality or God, declaring that these “People upon the mystic green” are singing and dancing as the Divine does.  She then becomes confident enough to remark that she too expects to dance and sing upon such a “mystic green.” 

    The speaker reveals that she prays “each new May Morn,” as she continues to wait with anticipation to hear the ringing of God’s “fantastic bells,” which seem “far,” as she remains upon the material level of earth.

    But the speaker expects to hear these bells calling her as they announce her arrival in those “other dells,” and at a different kind of dawn.  The speaker has likely been motivated to intuit the mystic scene by the natural beauty of a May morning, which has spirited her mind away to a holy place where the dearly departed now reside, play, and take their celebratory being.

  • Emily Dickinson’s “We lose – because we win”

    Image: Emily Dickinson – Amherst College – Daguerrotype of the poet at age 17, circa 1847 – likely the only authentic, extant likeness of the poet

    Emily Dickinson’s “We lose – because we win”

    Emily Dickinson’s “We lose – because we win,” exemplifies a short, quirky observation,  which makes a statement about human behavior that has become compulsive.

    Introduction and Text of “We lose – because we win”

    Emily Dickinson’s “We lose – because we win” features characteristics of a versanelle, a short, usually 20 lines or fewer, dramatic narration that comments on human nature or behavior and may employ any of the usual poetic devices.  I coined this term to designate certain heretofore unclassifiable poems of Robert Frost, Stephen Crane, M. M. Sedam, and others.

    The versanelle remains a natural, philosophical outlet for the poet who entertains a philosophical bent, as most poets do. From Walt Whitman to T. S. Eliot, many American poets from time to time are motivated to fashion a short observations regarding humankind into a poetic drama.

    We lose – because we win

    We lose – because we win –
    Gamblers – recollecting which
    Toss their dice again!

    Commentary on “We lose – because we win”

    Each line of a versanelle exudes thoughts whose meanings in the hand of a less masterful craftsman might take many lines to express.

    First Line:   A Puzzling Paradox

    We lose – because we win –

    The speaker in Dickinson’s three-line versanelle has observed that humankind can become addicted to certain acts.  Thus she chooses the act of winning to state her perceived notion.  

    She states the introduction to her conclusion in a paradox.  At first, the statement seems non-sensical because it seems to contradict itself.  One is tempted to query, how can we lose if she has won?  Are the two not mutually exclusive.  At first blush, it seems that the speaker has placed the acts of losing and winning in the same time frame.  And if that were the case, the statement would have been ludicrous.

    For example, if you placed your bet and won $1,000, no one can dispute that you gambled and won.  In order to remain a winner, however, you must walk away with your winnings.

    Thus the paradox is elucidated by the remaining two lines, which broaden the time frame.  The speaker is not only referring to the short period of time after winning, but she is also encompassing the many years, perhaps, that may follow that unfortunate win that leads to loss.

    Second Line:  Gamblers Remember

    Gamblers – recollecting which

    Thus”Gamblers” do not take their money and walk away.  They become intoxicated by the win, and the memory of winning becomes implanted in their brains.  The pleasure of winning that money has urged the “gambler” to make further choices that will again bring that pleasure.

    Third Line:   Lose After Winning

    Toss their dice again!

    In the attempt to regain the pleasurable feeling of having won that thousand dollars, the “gambler” must gamble again.  And even if he wins, a second time, he will only strengthen the desire to keep winning.

    But as those hooked on the notion of winning continue to “toss their dice,” they will invariably begin to lose.  And it becomes abundantly clear that they will lose many more thousands than they have ever won.  Just ask members of Gamblers Anonymous!

    And not only will the continuation of gambling lead to financial ruin, the seriously addicted gambler may lose his job, family, and friends, along with his self-respect and possibly his life.

    A Broader Application

    While the Dickinson versanelle can be understood to refer to the literal “gambler,” there is no doubt that her speaker wishes to offer a far more wide-ranging application of this adage.  Thus the observation can include any human activity that leads to habitual repetition of an act that leads to negative instead of positive outcomes. 

    Such activities might include those that lead to addiction to alcohol, those that lead to unhealthy eating, those that lead to unwholesome engagement in sex, and also those that lead to psychological malfunction.   

    The human mind and heart are capable of turning a heaven into a hell merely with thoughts that ultimately lead to depravity.  Experiencing a delight in any unhealthy, unwholesome act must be rooted out before it can become habitual.  

    The mood junky can become like a gambler who continues to roll the dice, expecting to experience that happy win again, yet finds himself unable to climb out of his nasty mood because he has come to rely on it, perhaps using it as an excuse for failures that are simply the result of lack of effort.