As Imperceptibly as Grief

Working on your own, or in a group, consider how relevant the following contextual points relating to Emily Dickinson’s poem, As Imperceptibly as Grief. are (i.e. how much knowledge of these facts would add to a reader’s appreciation of the poem.) Give each point a score out of 5 (5 being very important; 4 important; 3 fairly important; 2 not very important; 1 hardly important; 0 not important at all.) You should be able to make a case for your choices.

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, that would be gone —
And thus, without a Wing
Or service of a Keel
Our Summer made her light escape
Into the Beautiful.

Emily Dickinson

Ranking

Give each point a score out of 5 (5 being very important; 4 important; 3 fairly important; 2 not very important; 1 hardly important; 0 not important at all.) You should be able to make a case for your choices.

Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 and died in 1886.

She was from Massachusetts, in America.

Although she wrote many poems (nearly 2,000) most of them were not published until after her death.

A lot of her work, although not her poetry, was destroyed after her death (according to her instructions to her sister.)

Dickinson had a “normal” childhood, but became increasingly shy and recluse-like, until she rarely left her bedroom, and kept in touch with friends and family through letter writing.

She had a lot of experience of sickness and the deaths of those close to her, although this was not unusual in the 19th century.

The earlier versions of Dickinson’s poems were altered by her publishers to make them more conventional (e.g. with titles and conventional use of capital letters and punctuation.)

The full collection of her poems was published in 1955 (a long time after her death.)

Dickinson read widely, being influenced by the Romantic poets and Shakespeare, for example.

She was very keen on plants, flowers, and gardens.

Think about:
Grief is a human emotion, but on the surface, at least, this poem is about the end of summer. Can you see any other parts of the poem that work on more than one level?

Prepare a short talk for a group of students who have not yet studied As Imperceptibly as Grief, by Emily Dickinson. Use contextual points, such as those you have discussed above, to make the poem more accessible (understandable) for them.