Name: ______
Emily Dickinson—Read the biography on page 546 and write five important facts about her life.
Emily Dickinson—Selected Poetry
Read “Success is Counted Sweetest” on page 550 and answer the questions below.
1. What does the speaker mean in lines 1-2?
2. Who or what is the “purple Host” in line 5?
3. Paraphrase lines 9-12 of the poem.
4. In your opinion, who appreciates success more, the one who wins or the one who loses? Explain your response.
“If You Were Coming in the Fall”
If you were coming in the fall,
I'd brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spurn,
As housewives do a fly.
5If I could see you in a year,
I'd wind the months in balls,
And put them each in separate drawers,
Until their time befalls.
If only centuries delayed,
10I'd count them on my hand,
Subtracting till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen's land,Van Diemen’s land: former name of Tasmania, an island that is a state of Australia
If certain, when this life was out,
That yours and mine should be.
15I'd toss it yonder like a rind,
And taste eternity.
But now, all ignorant of the length
Of time’s uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee—
20That will not state its sting.
1. How would you describe the speaker’s situation? How does she feel about it?
2. What two things are being compared in the simile in the first stanza?
3. In the second stanza, what domestic articles are the months compared to? Why does the speaker put them in separate drawers?
“Some Keep the Sabbath”
Some keep the Sabbath going to church;
I keep it, staying at home,
With a bobolink for a chorister,bobolink—a small bird
And an orchard for a dome.chorister—choir member
Some keep the Sabbath in surplice;surplice—loose white
I just wear my wings;vestment worn by clergy or
And instead of tolling the bell, for church,choir members on top of
Our little sexton sings. longer robes
God preaches—a noted clergyman—sexton—church officer in
And the sermon is never long;charge of maintenance of
So, instead of getting to heaven at last,church property; sometimes
I’m going all along!he will ring the church bell
1. How does Dickinson contrast her church with the town’s church?
2. What is the speaker’s relationship to nature?
3. Why do you think she keeps the Sabbath “at home”?
“I Never Saw a Moor”
I never saw a moor,moor—n.—a tract of wasteland, often
I never saw the sea; overgrown with heather
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given
1. What point is the poet trying to make by saying that she has never seen a moor or the sea?
2. Is this poem about a moor, or could it be something else—what could it be about?
“How Happy is the Little Stone”
How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And doesn’t care about careers,
And exigencies never fears;
Whose coat of elemental brown
A passing universe put on;
And independent as the sun,
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute decree
In casual simplicity
1. Why is the little stone happy?
2. What references to nature are made in this poem?
3. What is Dickinson trying to say in this poem?
“There is no frigate like a book”
There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a pagecourser—a swift or spirited horse
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest taketraverse—a route or way across; often
Without oppress of toll;zigzag course
How frugal is the chariot
That bears the human soul.
1. What is a “frigate”? (You may need a dictionary to define this.)
2. In the poem, the experience of reading a book is described by the use of similes. Explain at least one of these similes.
3. How has the speaker in this poem traveled?