~Our Favorite Poems~

If You Were Coming In the Fall

If you were coming in the fall,
I'd brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spurn,
As housewives do a fly.

If I could see you in a year,
I'd wind the months in balls,
And put them each in separate drawers,
Until their time befalls.

If only centuries delayed,
I'd count them on my hand,
Subtracting till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen's land.

If certain, when this life was out,
That yours and mine should be,
I'd toss it yonder like a rind,
And taste eternity.

But now, all ignorant of the length
Of time's uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee,
That will not state its sting.

Stephanie: I liked this poem by Emily Dickinson because we all can relate to the issues we have with love.  In this poem Emily Dickinson talks about the possibilities of life, loss, and finding love again even after death. We all deal with each one of these possibilities in real life so it’s easy to understand where Emily is coming from in this poem. The central meaning to this poem is that lovers may be lost, but time may rejoin them, even after death.  We all wish that, when it comes to lost love. Emily Dickinson clearly illustrates that time is unpredictable, where it can occur to be good or bad. This poem was very interesting to read and at the end it kept me wanting more.

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Chris: this poem is my favorite because of the powerful message it sends. And even though it sounds very depressing, this poem wants me to challenge its message. Emily starts out in the first stanza asking "I am nobody, who are you?" this right away sets the tone and shows that it is not a very cheerful poem. I interpret this song as Emily not wanting to be known or made public because she says that life would be dreary. The main reason I like this poem is not because what it stands for but how it makes me feel.

    Hope Is the Thing with Feathers

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Lisa:  I really liked this poem by Emily Dickinson because it is talking about hope and everyone can relate to it. She relates hope to a bird, because it's a feeling of being free to dream about whatever you want.  I liked the use of words and how the poem flowed really well together.  I like the line “That kept so many warm,” it shows how hope gives people happiness and comforts them.  I like how she shows how people have hoped any where such as the “chilliest land”, or the “strangest sea.”  Overall the poem was very creative and was very meaning full.

~Our Least Favorite Poems~

The Chariot

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then’t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
were toward eternity.

Chris: This poem to me is one of Emily’s worst written poems ever. I believe it is sloppy and out of place. The mood she puts into this poem is full of sorrow and depression. I think that this poem stands out compared to Emily’s other works of art. This poem was very difficult to understand and interrupt. Evan though most people would say this is an easy understanding poem for some reason it just rubs me the wrong way and is not attractive at all.

I Felt A Funeral On My Brain

I felt a funeral in my brain,
        And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
        That sense was breaking through.

And when they all were seated,
        A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
        My mind was going numb.

And then I heard them lift a box,
        And creak across my soul
With those same boots of lead,
        Then space began to toll

As all the heavens were a bell,
        And Being but an ear,
And I and silence some strange race,
        Wrecked, solitary, here.

And then a plank in reason, broke,
        And I dropped down and down--
And hit a world at every plunge,
        And finished knowing--then--

Lisa: I did not like this poem by Emily Dickinson because I thought it was depressing. In this poem she is talking about a person going into madness because they have lost a sense of self.  Dickinson compares this to a funeral because the person feels like part of them is dying.  I thought the poem was well written, but it was kind of hard to understand the true meaning.  Over all I did not like this poem because of the theme.

Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn

Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn
Indicative that suns go down;
The notice to the startled grass
That darkness is about to pass. 

Stephanie: Even though this poem is short and may look easy to interpret, I found it to be the hardest.  I found this one to be my least favorite because it was too short.  Short poems I feel that you can’t get the point across about what you are talking about.  I think this poem has to do with a feeling that something is about to happen that is unpleasant or bad.  It’s talking about a shadow throughout the poem.  I looked up the word presentiment and it means a foreboding a feeling of something bad.  This shadow is appearing over the grass and could mean that death is approaching.  Emily Dickinson uses death in a lot of her poems and this one didn’t seem to catch my eye as for favoritism. The sun is going down in this poem as the shadow appears and darkness of the night reflects on the death that is soon coming.