A Door just opened on a street -

 A Door just opened on a street  —

I — lost — was passing by  —
An instant’s Width of Warmth disclosed -
And Wealth — and Company.

The Door as sudden shut — And I  —
I — lost — was passing by —
Lost doubly — but by contrast — most -
Informing — Misery.

     -F914, J953, sheet 10, 1865

Tell all the truth - Emily Dickinson

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind —

"Faith" is a fine Invention - Emily Dickinson

"Faith" is a fine invention


For Gentlemen who see!


But Microscopes are prudent


In an Emergency !

This is by far my favorite poem by Emily Dickinson. Faith is indeed a fine invention by humans to keep us civilized. I remember watching the video game "Resonance of Fate" and suddenly got all philosophical when i heard the following line

Faith brings Order

Order brings Stability and

Stability brings Prosperity



Dont why that stood out in my mind from the game but Im just liking this amazing reclusive American poet. Here is an analysis of the poem by Susan Kornfeld of "The Prowling Bee" blog.

In a clever little dig at unexamined religiousness, the poet suggests that Faith is not only an “invention” but a redundant one as it is fit for “Gentlemen” who can already see what they want with their normal vision. But even this invention falls short of what is needed in an “Emergency.” When you can’t see with unaided eyes what needs to be seen, it’s time to wheel out the microscope.

The core faith for most major religions is that the Holy books reveal truth and that their (and their clergies’) prescribed form of worship, rituals, and value systems are what most please God. There are some people who see God’s hand in everything or who think God talks directly to them. What will happen when beliefs and holy texts fall short or are even contradicted? While faith is “fine” when evil is punished, virtue rewarded, and prayers seemingly answered, if things are amiss, then faith might be questioned. Perhaps it will reign supreme no matter what (always explained away as “God’s mysterious ways,” or the need to believe in a “grander scheme” in which our little sufferings [like the Civil War or slavery – topics bleeding over dinner tables or worse throughout the U.S. at the time Dickinson was writing this]) serve some ultimate Good, but Dickinson recommends taking a close look. The preacher or doctor needs to think and reflect deeply not only on what he reads but on what he sees.

Dickinson was a naturalist and educated woman, and this reality-based approach suited her. Her poems don’t spout “commonplace truths” as so many did in her time (with some exceptions), but are often shockingly bold and original.

The poem is concise and clever enough to be epigrammatic. It’s the sort of thing that can be easily memorized and trotted out on appropriate occasions.

"Nature" is what we see - Emily Dickinson

Nature’ is what we see—

The Hill—the Afternoon—

Squirrel—Eclipse—the Bumble bee—

Nay—Nature is Heaven—

Nature is what we hear—

The Bobolink—the Sea—

Thunder—the Cricket—

Nay—Nature is Harmony—

Nature is what we know—

Yet have no art to say—

So impotent Our Wisdom is

To her Simplicity.

Poetry analysis by Nancy Browne of Humanities360.com

In Emily Dickinson's poem, "Nature is What We See," the reader can sense her love and appreciation of nature. The theme of the poem is nature's simplicity, yet her poem suggests that nature is anything but simple; it is mysterious, magnificent, and inexpressible. The surface meaning primarily suggests that nature is natural and simple in theory, but exploring the underlying meaning, we see how Dickinson uses various patterns to describe the diversity in nature.

She shows this by the objects she chooses to represent, in the way of large, medium, and small, the sea, and the squirrel, and the bumblebee. She identifies nature as infinitely variable.

She starts the poem in reference to sight, with distinctive objects (hill, squirrel, bobolink, and bumblebee), all obvious things people can clearly see and visualize. She adds the abstract ( heaven, afternoon, thunder).

Then she takes it further suggesting that nature is more than sight, it is what people hear, Bobolink (a bird), the Sea, Thunder, Cricket, are all indications of her attempt to define nature through the senses (what we see, what we hear).

Next, she mentions that nature is harmony, (now we compare the objects of the sights and sounds. For instance, "afternoon" represents warm and light, the eclipse appears cool and dark. Weak and strong interpretations are also evident; the hill and sea are strong in appearance; the bobolink and bumblebee are weak in sound. Again, the diversity in nature is present by the noise of "thunder," as oppose to the noise of a "cricket." By using size, she attempts to show a pattern in relation to nature. It is as though nature is speaking to her in various degrees, through sight and sound.

She then compares nature to heaven, which suggests that both are mysterious and impossible to describe. So impotent, Our Wisdom indicates that humanity lacks the ability to understand the powers of nature, even suggesting that humans are too busy to care about the insignificant things that nature presents.

The mystery of what she sees and hears in nature leads her to God (Nature is Heaven) where the task of explanation is still impossible. Her suggestion is that nature itself is Heaven, and would bring people closer to God. She appears to be frustrated, unable to understand the morality of humanity and unable to explain the mystery of nature or of God.

(So impotent Our Wisdom) certainly suggests that humanity is not wise enough to define nature, and yet nature is so simple (To her Simplicity). Trying to express with words (Yet have no art to say) she is aware that it is useless; there are no words to describe the mysteries of nature.

In conclusion, she seems to say that humans do not notice the simple things in life, or they tend to ignore them (sight - hill, squirrel) and (sound - crickets, bumblebee). In the end, her line, "Nature is what we know," reflects on the notion that nature is a powerful mystery, and it will always remain indescribable.

The more Dickinson peers into nature, the more confused and frustrated she appears in trying to understand something that is not understandable.

Dickinson lived a life of alienation and this poem perhaps best describes her inability to understand not only herself, but nature, humanity and God as well.

These long dashes in her poem indicate a link to the many hidden thoughts of the author. "Nay" is a negative response and indicates how perplexed she is in defining nature