University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poems by Emily Dickinson

Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

collapse section 
[section]
collapse section1. 
I. LIFE.
 1. 
I. REAL RICHES.
 2. 
II. SUPERIORITY TO FATE.
 3. 
III. HOPE.
 4. 
IV. FORBIDDEN FRUIT. I.
 5. 
V. FORBIDDEN FRUIT. II.
 6. 
VI. A WORD.
 7. 
[VII. To venerate the simple days]
 8. 
VIII. LIFE'S TRADES.
 9. 
[IX. Drowning is not so pitiful]
 10. 
[X. How still the bells in steeples stand]
 11. 
[XI. If the foolish call them ‘flowers,’]
 12. 
XII. A SYLLABLE.
 13. 
XIII. PARTING.
 14. 
XIV. ASPIRATION.
 15. 
XV. THE INEVITABLE,
 16. 
XVI. A BOOK.
 17. 
[XVII. Who has not found the heaven below]
 18. 
XVIII. A PORTRAIT.
 19. 
XIX. I HAD A GUINEA GOLDEN.
 20. 
XX. SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
 21. 
[XXI. Few get enough,—enough is one]
 22. 
[XXII. Upon the gallows hung a wretch]
 23. 
XXIII. THE LOST THOUGHT.
 24. 
XXIV. RETICENCE.
 25. 
XXV. WITH FLOWERS.
 26. 
[XXVI. The farthest thunder that I heard]
 27. 
[XXVII. On the bleakness of my lot]
 28. 
XXVIII. CONTRAST.
 29. 
XXIX. FRIENDS.
 30. 
XXX. FIRE.
 31. 
XXXI. A MAN.
 32. 
XXXII. VENTURES.
 33. 
XXXIII. GRIEFS.
 34. 
[XXXIV. I have a king who does not speak]
 35. 
XXXV. DISENCHANTMENT.
 36. 
XXXVI. LOST FAITH.
 37. 
XXXVII. LOST JOY.
 38. 
[XXXVIII. I worked for chaff, and earning wheat]
 39. 
[XXXIX. Life and Death, and Giants]
 40. 
XL. ALPINE GLOW.
 41. 
XLI. REMEMBRANCE.
 42. 
[XLII. To hang our head ostensibly]
 43. 
XLIII. THE BRAIN.
 44. 
[XLIV. The bone that has no marrow]
 45. 
XLV. THE PAST.
 46. 
[XLVI. To help our bleaker parts]
 47. 
[XLVII. What soft, cherubic creatures]
 48. 
XLVIII. DESIRE.
 49. 
XLIX. PHILOSOPHY.
 50. 
L. POWER.
 51. 
[LI. A modest lot, a fame petite]
 52. 
[LII. Is bliss, then, such abyss]
 53. 
LIII. EXPERIENCE.
 54. 
LIV. THANKSGIVING DAY.
 55. 
LV. CHILDISH GRIEFS.
expand section2. 
II. LOVE.
expand section3. 
III. NATURE.
expand section4. 
IV. TIME AND ETERNITY.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Poems by Emily Dickinson
next section
21

[IX. Drowning is not so pitiful]

Drowning is not so pitiful
As the attempt to rise.
Three times, 't is said, a sinking man
Comes up to face the skies,
And then declines forever
To that abhorred abode
Where hope and he part company,—
For he is grasped of God.
The Maker's cordial visage,
However good to see,
Is shunned, we must admit it,
Like an adversity.
previous section Poems by Emily Dickinson
next section