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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Browse alphabetically through more than 9,000 words in Dickinson’s poetry, as defined in the Emily Dickinson Lexicon, based in part on her dictionary, Webster's 1844 American Dictionary of the English Language.

Houghton Library - (48b, c) More Life - went out - when He went, J422, Fr415; The Months have ends - the Years - a knot, J423, Fr416

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Credits: Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886. Poems: Packet X, Mixed Fascicles. Includes 14 poems, written in ink, ca. 1858-1862. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Houghton Library - (48b, c) More Life - went out - when He went, J422, Fr415; The Months have ends - the Years - a knot, J423, Fr416
Publication History
Yale Review, 25 (Autumn 1935), 76, and UP (1935), 4, the first four stanzas. Bingham, New England Quarterly, 20 (March 1947), 39-40, entire, from a transcript of A (a tr516). Poems (1955), 327-28; CP (1960), 201-2. MB (1981), 296-97, in facsimile. (J422). Franklin Variorum 1998 (F415A).
UP (1935), 117. Poems (1955), 328; CP (1960), 202. MB (1981), 297, in facsimile. (J423). Franklin Variorum 1998 (F416A).
-History from Franklin Variorum 1998

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Imported: 2013-10-21 12:59:24 -0400
Order: 13
Order Label
Label: (48b, c) More Life - went out - when He went, J422, Fr415; The Months have ends - the Years - a knot, J423, Fr416
Filename: ms_am_1118_3_48_0003

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J422 - More Life -- went out -- when He went

More Life -- went out -- when He went
Than Ordinary Breath
Lit with a finer Phosphor --
Requiring in the Quench --

A Power of Renowned Cold,
The Climate of the Grave
A Temperature just adequate
So Anthracite, to live --

For some -- an Ampler Zero --
A Frost more needle keen
Is nescessary, to reduce
The Ethiop within.

Others -- extinguish easier --
A Gnat's minutest Fan
Sufficient to obliterate
A Tract of Citizen --

Whose Peat life -- amply vivid --
Ignores the solemn News
That Popocatapel exists --
Or Etna's Scarlets, Choose --

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First Line/Title: More Life -- went out -- when He went
Date: 1862
Edition: Johnson Poems 1955
Number: J422

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Year: 1862
Packet: 26
Manuscript: Manuscript: About 1862, in packet 26 (H 48b). There has been much speculation upon the meaning of "Anthracite." In her youth ED greatly enjoyed Reveries of a Bachelor (1850) by Dona]d Grant Mitchell ("Ik Marvel"). Mr. Richard Chase has pointed out in Emily Dickinson (1951), 48, that in his second "revery," "By a City Grate," Mitchell makes a psychological distinction between "sea -- coal" and "anthracite" types of people. The former he characterizes as "mercurial, shallow, unsteady, brilliant"; the latter as stable, devoted, profound. ED has in mind by her phrase "So Anthracite, to live" the idea that the temperature of the grave is just adequate to quench the "finer Phosphor" of the more stable, profound type.
Publications: Publication: The first four stanzas only are in Yale Review, XXV (September 1935), 36; UP (1935), 4, and later collections. The entire poem is in New England Quarterly, XX (1947), 39-40, derived from a transcription of the packet copy made by Mrs. Todd.

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J423 - The Months have ends -- the Years -- a knot --

The Months have ends -- the Years -- a knot --
No Power can untie
To stretch a little further
A Skein of Misery --

The Earth lays back these tired lives
In her mysterious Drawers --
Too tenderly, that any doubt
An ultimate Repose --

The manner of the Children --
Who weary of the Day --
Themself -- the noisy Plaything
They cannot put away

About Work

First Line/Title: The Months have ends -- the Years -- a knot --
Date: 1862
Edition: Johnson Poems 1955
Number: J423

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Year: 1862
Packet: 26
Manuscript: Manuscript: About 1862, in packet 26 (H 48c).
Publications: Publication: UP (1935), 117. Two words are altered: 1.ends] end 11. Themself] Themselves

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Related Works in Other Editions

F415A - More life went out when he went

The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Variorum Edition, Franklin, 1998

F416A - The months have ends - the years a knot

The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Variorum Edition, Franklin, 1998

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Houghton Library - (48b, c) More Life - went out - when He went, J422, Fr415; The Months have ends - the Years - a knot, J423, Fr416

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J422 - More Life -- went out -- when He went

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J423 - The Months have ends -- the Years -- a knot --

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