Dickinson/Higginson Correspondence: Poem 1357

poems sent from dickinson to higginson

Thomas Johnson's Note on Poem 1357

MANUSCRIPT: Version I. The fair copy reproduced above (BPL Higg 29) was one of five poems enclosed in a letter (BPL Higg 83) written to T. W. Higginson in January or February T876. It is a redaction of a semifinal draft (Bingham 95-3), identical in text and form except for an alternative suggestion not adopted in the fair copy:

7. the Giving, solely] the Majesty-

A third copy of the first stanza only, written about the same time and sent to Sue, is privately owned (Morse). It is identical in text with the other copies; line 2 is without punctuation.

Version II. There are two copies, both written in pencil evidently at the same time as version I. The fair copy (Bingham 98-4B-9) is reproduced above. The semifinal copy (Bingham 95-4) suggests two alternative readings, both of which are rejected in the fair copy:

2. From] Of - / in - 3. indeed the offer] the Proposition

There are three minor differences in form:

5. give] give, 7. fits,] fits-
6. Your] your

PUBLICATION: The copy to Higginson is in New England Quarterly, V (I932), 220. The fair copy of version II is in BM (1945), 261.

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