MC LIT – 5

HAZEL ANN DELA PEÑA

3rd yr. BSED

ACTIVITY 7
A. COMPILE AT LEAST 10 COLLECTION OF POEMS OF EMILY DICKSON
(CONTENT) EXCEPT “HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS”.

1. BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH

Because I could not stop for Death – Or rather – He passed us –

He kindly stopped for me – The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
The Carriage held but just ourselves – For only Gossamer, my Gown –
And Immortality. My Tippet – only Tulle –

We slowly drove – He knew no haste We paused before a House that seemed

And I had put away A Swelling of the Ground –
My labor and my leisure too, The Roof was scarcely visible –
For His Civility – The Cornice – in the Ground –

We passed the School, where Children Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
strove
Feels shorter than the Day
At Recess – in the Ring –
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
Were toward Eternity –
We passed the Setting Sun –

2. IM NOBODY! WHO ARE YOU?

I'm nobody! Who are you? How dreary – to be – Somebody!

Are you – Nobody – too? How public – like a Frog –
Then there's a pair of us! To tell one's name – the livelong June –
Don't tell! They’d advertise – you know! To an admiring Bog!
 3. WILD NIGHTS - WILD NIGHTS!

Wild nights - Wild nights!

Where I with thee?
Wild nights should be
Our luxury! Rowing in Eden -
Ah - the Sea!
Futile - the winds - Might I but moor - tonight -?
To a Heart in port - In thee!
Done with the Compass -
Done with the Chart!

4. SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST

Success is counted sweetest

By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host

Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of victory

As he defeated – dying –
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
 5. A BIRD, CAME DOWN THE WALK

A Bird, came down the Walk - They looked like frightened Beads, I
thought,
He did not know I saw -
He stirred his Velvet Head. -
He bit an Angle Worm in halves
Like one in danger, Cautious,
And ate the fellow, raw,
I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers,
And then, he drank a Dew
And rowed him softer Home -
From a convenient Grass -
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
Than Oars divide the Ocean,
To let a Beetle pass -
Too silver for a seam,
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
He glanced with rapid eyes,
Leap, plash less as they swim.
That hurried all abroad -

6. I TASTE A LIQUOR NEVER BREWED

I taste a liquor never brewed – Out of the Foxglove's door –

From Tankards scooped in Pearl –
Not all the Frankfort Berries
Yield such an Alcohol!
When Butterflies – renounce their
"drams" –
I shall but drink the more!

Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats –

Inebriate of air – am I –
And Saints – to windows run –
And Debauchee of Dew –
To see the little Tippler
Reeling – thro' endless summer days –
Leaning against the – Sun!
From inns of molten Blue –

When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee

 7. THERE IS A PAIN—SO UTTER

There is a pain—so utter—

It swallows substance up— As one within a Swoon—
Then covers the Abyss with Trance— Goes safely—where an open eye—
So Memory can step Would drop Him—Bone by Bone.
Around—across—upon it—

8. I LIKE TO SEE IT LAP THE MILES

I like to see it lap the Miles, To fit its sides, and crawl between,
And lick the valleys up, Complaining all the while
And stop to feed itself at tanks; In horrid, hooting stanza;
And then, prodigious, step Then chase itself down hill

Around a pile of mountains, And neigh like Boanerges;

And, supercilious, peer Then, punctual as a star,
In shanties by the sides of roads; Stop—docile and omnipotent—
And then a quarry pare At its own stable door

9. I HEARD A FLY BUZZ – WHEN I DIED

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away

The Stillness in the Room What portions of me be
Was like the Stillness in the Air – Assignable – and then it was
Between the Heaves of Storm – There interposed a Fly –

The Eyes around – had wrung them dry – With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –
And Breaths were gathering firm Between the light – and me –
For that last Onset – when the King And then the Windows failed – and then
Be witnessed – in the Room – I could not see to see –
10.THERES A CERTAIN SLANT ON LIGHT

There's a certain Slant of light,

Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –

We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the Meanings, are –

None may teach it – Any –

'Tis the Seal Despair –
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air –

When it comes, the Landscape listens –

Shadows – hold their breath –
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death –