"As Imperceptibly as Grief" by Emily Dickinson

 

As Imperceptibly as Grief

As imperceptibly as grief

The summer lapsed away, —

Too imperceptible, at last,

To seem like perfidy.

A quietness distilled,

As twilight long begun,

Or Nature, spending with herself

Sequestered afternoon.

The dusk drew earlier in,

The morning foreign shone, —

A courteous, yet harrowing grace,

As guest who would be gone.

 

And thus, without a wing,

Or service of a keel,

Our summer made her light escape

Into the beautiful.

 

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Who wrote the poem "As Imperceptibly as Grief"?

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet who was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. She spent most of her adult life at the family home in isolation, attending to her ill mother. Introverted and timid, she never married or sought a permanent romantic relationship all her life. Although she wrote nearly 1,800 poems during her lifetime, her poetry was largely misunderstood or underrated while she was alive. Her poems were quite original and disregarded many conventional rules, containing short lines, typically lacking titles, and often using imperfect rhyme and odd-looking syntax. Her poetry however captures universal feelings in a simple sentence with unique but resonating metaphors and reflects the poet’s lively, imaginative, and dynamic inner world. Her poetic genius began to be appreciated only after her death when her sister published her works. Now Dickinson is regarded as one of the most important American poets.

"As Imperceptibly as Grief" explanation

Emily Dickinson's poem "As Imperceptibly as Grief" uses the metaphor of the changing seasons to explore the nature of loss and the passage of time. The poem begins with the end of summer, which has slipped away as subtly and inevitably as grief. This transition is so gradual that it feels almost like a betrayal. The quietness of the changing season reflects the quietness that can descend in the wake of grief. As the poem progresses, the shift from day to night and the arrival of a foreign morning symbolize the profound changes that loss can bring. The final lines suggest a sense of acceptance and even beauty in this cycle of change and loss, as the summer escapes "into the Beautiful" without the need for wings or a keel. The poem thus captures the quiet, gradual, but profound impact of grief and change on our lives. Dickinson lived much of her life in relative isolation, and her poems often reflect a deep introspection and exploration of her own thoughts and feelings, as in "As Imperceptibly as Grief".