No More Learning

Weeds triumphant ranged,
Strangers strolled and spelled
At the lone orthography
Of the elder dead.

Winds of summer fields
Recollect the way, --
Instinct picking up the key
Dropped by memory.





XLII.

Lay this laurel on the one
Too intrinsic for renown.
Laurel! veil your deathless tree, --
Him you chasten, that is he!








POEMS

by EMILY DICKINSON

Third Series




Edited by

MABEL LOOMIS TODD



It's all I have to bring to-day,
This, and my heart beside,
This, and my heart, and all the fields,
And all the meadows wide.
Be sure you count, should I forget, --
Some one the sum could tell, --
This, and my heart, and all the bees
Which in the clover dwell.



PREFACE.

The intellectual activity of Emily Dickinson was so great that
a large and characteristic choice is still possible among her
literary material, and this third volume of her verses is put
forth in response to the repeated wish of the admirers of her
peculiar genius. Much of Emily Dickinson's prose was rhythmic,
--even rhymed, though frequently not set apart in lines.

Also many verses, written as such, were sent to friends in
letters; these were published in 1894, in the volumes of her
_Letters_. It has not been necessary, however, to include them in
this Series, and all have been omitted, except three or four
exceptionally strong ones, as "A Book," and "With Flowers. "

There is internal evidence that many of the poems were simply
spontaneous flashes of insight, apparently unrelated to outward
circumstance. Others, however, had an obvious personal origin;
for example, the verses "I had a Guinea golden," which seem to
have been sent to some friend travelling in Europe, as a dainty
reminder of letter-writing delinquencies.
The surroundings in
which any of Emily Dickinson's verses are known to have been
written usually serve to explain them clearly; but in general the
present volume is full of thoughts needing no interpretation to
those who apprehend this scintillating spirit.

M. L. T.

AMHERST, _October_, 1896.




I. LIFE.


I.

REAL RICHES.

'T is little I could care for pearls
Who own the ample sea;
Or brooches, when the Emperor
With rubies pelteth me;

Or gold, who am the Prince of Mines;
Or diamonds, when I see
A diadem to fit a dome
Continual crowning me.





II.

SUPERIORITY TO FATE.

Superiority to fate
Is difficult to learn.
'T is not conferred by any,
But possible to earn

A pittance at a time,
Until, to her surprise,
The soul with strict economy
Subsists till Paradise.





III.

HOPE.