As Imperceptibly as Grief
Emily Dickinson
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.
VOCABULARY
Imperceptibly - difficult to observe or notice
Lapsed - expired / no longer exists
Perfidy - a state of trickery and deceit
Quietness - a state of being quiet and peaceful
Distilled - purified or boiled down to its essence
Twilight - the state between daylight and night, as the sun is going down
, Sequestered - hidden away
Dusk - night time
Foreign - unfamiliar, from a different place
Courteous - friendly, civil
Harrowing - stressful, difficult
Thus - in this way
Keel - the front part of the boat which cuts its way through the water
STORY/SUMMARY
Stanza 1: The way in which Grief disappears - in a way where you almost don’t
notice it - that’s how Summer faded away - its decline was so subtle and difficult to
perceive that it couldn’t possibly have been deliberate deceit or treachery
Stanza 2: - A quietness was purified and distilled out of the essence of summer, as
the nights began to get longer, and Nature spent time alone with herself - on hidden
afternoons.
Stanza 3: Darkness drew in earlier at night - the morning started to shine in a
different way as if it was foreign - it shone with a kind, but difficult Grace, like a guest
that one day would disappear
Stanza 4: - and in this way, without a wing (because it wasn’t a bird) or a keel
(because it wasn’t a boat) our Summer made her light escape into the Beautiful.
SPEAKER/VOICE
The third-person omniscient speaker talks abstractly in this poem about the passage
of time, observing the transition of seasons from Summer into Autumn - with a hint of
Winter that’s yet to come. She seems to be on friendly, personable terms with Summer
who is personified throughout the poem using pronouns such as ‘her’ and ‘our’. The
Emily Dickinson
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.
VOCABULARY
Imperceptibly - difficult to observe or notice
Lapsed - expired / no longer exists
Perfidy - a state of trickery and deceit
Quietness - a state of being quiet and peaceful
Distilled - purified or boiled down to its essence
Twilight - the state between daylight and night, as the sun is going down
, Sequestered - hidden away
Dusk - night time
Foreign - unfamiliar, from a different place
Courteous - friendly, civil
Harrowing - stressful, difficult
Thus - in this way
Keel - the front part of the boat which cuts its way through the water
STORY/SUMMARY
Stanza 1: The way in which Grief disappears - in a way where you almost don’t
notice it - that’s how Summer faded away - its decline was so subtle and difficult to
perceive that it couldn’t possibly have been deliberate deceit or treachery
Stanza 2: - A quietness was purified and distilled out of the essence of summer, as
the nights began to get longer, and Nature spent time alone with herself - on hidden
afternoons.
Stanza 3: Darkness drew in earlier at night - the morning started to shine in a
different way as if it was foreign - it shone with a kind, but difficult Grace, like a guest
that one day would disappear
Stanza 4: - and in this way, without a wing (because it wasn’t a bird) or a keel
(because it wasn’t a boat) our Summer made her light escape into the Beautiful.
SPEAKER/VOICE
The third-person omniscient speaker talks abstractly in this poem about the passage
of time, observing the transition of seasons from Summer into Autumn - with a hint of
Winter that’s yet to come. She seems to be on friendly, personable terms with Summer
who is personified throughout the poem using pronouns such as ‘her’ and ‘our’. The
