Summary Poem Analysis of 'I measure every Grief I meet' by Emily Dickinson

I measure every Grief I meet
Emily Dickinson


I measure every Grief I meet
With narrow, probing, eyes –
I wonder if It weighs like Mine –
Or has an Easier size.


I wonder if They bore it long –
Or did it just begin –
I could not tell the Date of Mine –
It feels so old a pain –


I wonder if it hurts to live –
And if They have to try –
And whether – could They choose between –
It would not be – to die –


I note that Some – gone patient long –
At length, renew their smile –
An imitation of a Light
That has so little Oil –


I wonder if when Years have piled –
Some Thousands – on the Harm –
That hurt them early – such a lapse
Could give them any Balm –


Or would they go on aching still
Through Centuries of Nerve –
Enlightened to a larger Pain –
In Contrast with the Love –

, The Grieved – are many – I am told –
There is the various Cause –
Death – is but one – and comes but once –
And only nails the eyes –


There's Grief of Want – and grief of Cold –
A sort they call "Despair" –
There's Banishment from native Eyes –
In sight of Native Air –


And though I may not guess the kind –
Correctly – yet to me
A piercing Comfort it affords
In passing Calvary –


To note the fashions – of the Cross –
And how they're mostly worn –
Still fascinated to presume
That Some – are like my own –



VOCABULARY


Probing - exploring and examining by paying close attention, or delving deeply into a
topic
Lapse - a fall, where someone experiences a loss in something - such as memory
failure, a loss in stability in their lives, a loss of the grace of God
Balm - a medicinal paste applied to wounds in order to help the healing process




STORY/SUMMARY