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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

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Houghton Library - (156d) A still - Volcano - Life -, J601, Fr517

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Credits: Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886. Poems: Packet XXIX, Fascicle 24 (part). Includes 8 complete poems with a portion of another, written in ink, dated ca. 1862.
Houghton Library - (156d) A still - Volcano - Life -, J601, Fr517
Publication History
FP (1929), 36, with the alternatives adopted ("slip" for line 7), and a fourth and final stanza (beginning "Therefore we do life's Labor) which is part of a different poem, "I tie my hat - I crease my shawl." The confusion in the manuscripts of Fascicle 24 that led to this association is discussed in Franklin, Harvard Library Bulletin, 28 (July 1980), 245-57. Poems (1955), 461; CP (1960), 295. MB (1981), 546, in facsimile. (J601). Franklin Variorum 1998 (F517A).
-History from Franklin Variorum 1998

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Imported: 2013-10-21 13:02:05 -0400
Order: 6
Order Label: (156d) A still - Volcano - Life -, J601, Fr517
Label: (156d) A still - Volcano - Life -, J601, Fr517
Filename: ms_am_1118_3_156_0004

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J601 - A still -- Volcano -- Life --

A still -- Volcano -- Life --
That flickered in the night --
When it was dark enough to show do
Without endangering erasing sight --

A quiet -- Earthquake Style --
Too smouldering subtle to suspect
By natures this side Naples --
The North cannot detect

The Solemn -- Torrid -- Symbol --
The lips that never lie --
Whose hissing Corals part -- and shut --
And Cities -- slip -- slide -- melt -- ooze away --

About Work

First Line/Title: A still -- Volcano -- Life --
Date: 1862
Edition: Johnson Poems 1955
Number: J601

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Work Metadata

Year: 1862
Packet: 29
Manuscript: Manuscript: About 1862, in packet 29 (H 156d). ED had first written 'Volcanic" (line 1), but crossed it out and wrote "Volcano" among the suggested changes.
Publications: Publication: FP (1929) 36. All suggested changes are adopted (with choice of "slip" for "ooze"). The published version attaches as a fourth and final stanza one beginning "Therefore we do Life's Labor", lines which are in fact the conclusion of "I tie my hat, I crease my shawl," (q.v.).

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Related Works in Other Editions

F517A - A still volcano life

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