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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 - (43b-44a) I meant to have but modest needs -, J476, Fr711

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Credits: Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886. Poems: Packet IX, Fascicle 33. Includes 16 poems, written in ink, dated ca. 1862.
Houghton Library - (43b-44a) I meant to have but modest needs -, J476, Fr711
Publication History
Poems (1891), 34-35, as seven stanzas. Poems (1955), 365-66; CP (1960), 229-30. MB (1981), 805-7, in facsimile. (J476). Franklin Variorum 1998 (F711A).
-History from Franklin Variorum 1998

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Imported: 2013-10-21 13:01:27 -0400
Order: 19
Order Label: (43b-44a) I meant to have but modest needs -, J476, Fr711
Label: (43b-44a) I meant to have but modest needs -, J476, Fr711
Filename: ms_am_1118_3_43_0003

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J476 - I meant to have but modest needs --

I meant to have but modest needs --
Such as Content -- and Heaven --
Within my income -- these could lie
And Life and I -- keep even --

But since the last -- included both --
It would suffice my Prayer
But just for One -- to stipulate --
And Grace would grant the Pair --

And so -- upon this wise -- I prayed --
Great Spirit -- Give to me
A Heaven not so large as Your's,
But large enough -- for me --

A Smile suffused Jehovah's face --
The Cherubim -- withdrew --
Grave Saints stole out to look at me --
And showed their dimples -- too --

I left the Place, with all my might --
I threw my Prayer away --
The Quiet Ages picked it up --
And Judgment -- twinkled -- too --
That one so honest -- be extant --
It take the Tale for true --
That "Whatsoever Ye shall ask --
Itself be given You" --

But I, grown shrewder -- scan the Skies
With a suspicious Air --
As Children -- swindled for the first
All Swindlers -- be -- infer -- --

About Work

First Line/Title: I meant to have but modest needs --
Date: 1862
Edition: Johnson Poems 1955
Number: J476

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Work Metadata

Year: 1862
Packet: 9
Manuscript: Manuscript: About 1862, in packet 9 (H 43b-44a). Stanza 5 is eight-line.
Publications: Publication: Poems (1891), 34-35, titled "A Prayer." The following alterations are made: 18] My prayer away 1 threw 23. Ye] you 22. It] As The text is arranged as seven quatrains.

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Related Works in Other Editions

P91-13 - A PRAYER

Poems by Emily Dickinson: Second Series, Higginson and Todd, 1891

F711A - I meant to have but modest needs

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