16 September 2005 | Vol. 5, No. 3

I'll tell you how the Sun rose—

I'll tell you how the Sun rose—

A Ribbon at a time—

The Steeples swam in Amethyst—

The news, like Squirrels, ran—

The Hills untied their Bonnets—

The Bobolinks—begun—

Then I said softly to myself—

"That must have been the Sun"!

But how he set—I know not—

There seemed a purple stile

That little Yellow boys and girls

Were climbing all the while—

Till when they reached the other side,

A Dominie in Gray—

Put gently up the evening Bars—

And led the flock away—

About the author:

1830-86. Dickinson lived her life in Amherst, Massachusetts, becoming, as she's famously known now, progressively reclusive. After her death, her sister discovered over 1000 poems in her bureau.

In 1862, Thomas Higginson, a well-known literary critic, published "Letter to a Young Contributor" in the Atlantic Monthly. Dickinson wrote to Higginson, asking if her "Verse is alive." She included four poems: "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers," "The nearest Dream recedes unrealized," "We play at Paste," and "I'll tell you how the Sun rose."

Learn more about Emily Dickinson at Wikipedia.

For further reading:

See the complete list of work by Emily Dickinson at 42opus. Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 5, No. 3, where "I'll tell you how the Sun rose—" ran on September 16, 2005. List other work with these same labels: poetry, classic.

42opus is an online magazine of the literary arts.

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