"It did not surprise me" By Emily Dickinson [Analysis]

It did not surprise me --[1] So I said -- or thought --[2] She will stir her pinions[3] And the nest forgot,[4] Traverse broader forests --[5] Build in gayer boughs,[6] Breathe in Ear more modern[7] God's old fashioned vows --[8] This was but a Birdling --[9] What and if it be[10] One within my bosom[11] Had departed me?[12] This was but a story --[13] What and if indeed[14] There were just such coffin[15] In the heart instead?[16]
Poem 39 [F50] "It did not surprise me" Analysis by David Preest [Poem]

As Aristotle observes, life without loving someone is worth little. But as soon as you begin to love somebody, you open yourself to the possibility of loss. The deeper your love, the greater your loss will be. Emily understood this very well. It was no surprise to her that some lesser love left her, just as she had forecast, but the pain of this had become manageable, and is now 'but a story.' But if she were to lose the greater love of the one who is now ''within my bosom,' then there would be a 'coffin in the heart.' Presumably she has Sue in mind. Her girlhood friend, Abiah Root, may be the 'Birdling' of the poem. Emily looks the same reality in the face when she says in a letter of 1861, 'I think it sad to have a friend - it's sure to break the Heart so - and yet - if it had none - the Heart must seek another trade (L243).
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