"A Word dropped careless on a Page" By Emily Dickinson [Analysis]

A Word dropped careless on a Page [1] May stimulate an eye [2] When folded in perpetual seam [3] The Wrinkled Maker lie [4] Infection in the sentence breeds [5] We may inhale Despair [6] At distances of Centuries [7] From the Malaria -- [8]
Poem 1261 [F1268] "A Word dropped careless on a Page" Analysis by David Preest [Poem]

Emily sent this poem, which continues the thought of poems 952 and 1212, in a letter (L379) to her cousin, Louise Norcross. It is preceded by the words, 'Do you remember what you said the night you came to me? I secure that sentence. If I should see your face no more it will be your portrait, and if I should [see your face, it will be] more vivid than your mortal face. We must be careful what we say. No bird resumes its egg.' Indeed Emily's own words still 'stimulate an eye' although she is 'folded in [the] perpetual seam [of her grave].' And we can still 'inhale [the] Despair' that, for example, Andromache feels when she hears of the death of her husband Hector in book 22 of Homer's Iliad, even though we are centuries away from the actual 'Malaria.' Johnson prints 'stimulate' in line 2 and 'Maker' in line 4 where Franklin has 'consecrate' and 'Author,' as Johnson is following the manuscript version of the poem, Franklin the letter version. Anthony Trollope makes the same point as this poem when in ch.51 of The Duke's Children the duke says of correspondence that, 'Words, when once written remain, or may remain in testimony for ever.'
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