1. As Imperceptibly as Grief
by Emily Dickinson

2. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) American poet (1830 – 1886)
Information from
American poet (1830 – 1886)
Born and lived in Amherst, Massachusetts
Highly introverted
Most friendships conducted through letters
Rarely left her bedroom in later life
Considered an eccentric
Usually wore white clothes
Never married

3. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) American poet
Information from
American poet
Born and lived in Amherst, Massachusetts
Highly introverted
Most friendships conducted through letters
Rarely left her bedroom in later life
Considered an eccentric
Usually wore white clothes
Never married

4. Word search
You have 5 minutes in your pairs to look up the meanings for the following words:
Imperceptible
Lapsed
Perfidy
Distilled
Sequestered
Courteous
Harrowing
You can allocate these words if you want to cut time, perhaps one per pair to feed back.

5. Word search Imperceptible – slight/subtle – hardly noticeable
Lapsed – not valid / expired / out of date
Perfidy – being deceitful and untrustworthy
Distilled – heated to extract something
Sequestered – isolated / hidden away
Courteous – polite and respectful
Harrowing – really distressing

6. Read the poem These questions will help you begin to think about it:
What season is it?
What are the clues that the season is changing?
What else could be changing, apart from the seasons?

7. Why does she compare the passing of summer to the passing of grief
Why does she compare the passing of summer to the passing of grief? What does she feel about the ending of the summer?
As imperceptibly as grief The summer lapsed away, – Too imperceptible, at last, To seem like perfidy.
Do you ever feel like time has tricked you?
Think about that phrase “time flies . . .”

8. What happens as summer passes
What happens as summer passes? How could this be both literal and metaphorical?
A quietness distilled, As twilight long begun, Or Nature, spending with herself Sequestered afternoon.
What technique is this? How does it present Nature?
If twilight is “long begun” what does that tell us about it?

9. D is a short sound. Why might this alliteration be here in this stanza?
How are autumnal/winter mornings foreign from summer ones?
The dusk drew earlier in, The morning foreign shone, – A courteous, yet harrowing grace, As guest who would be gone.
This is an oxymoron. Grace = an undeserved gift, it is a positive image. Harrowing is something really distressing.
What is Dickinson saying about the passing of the summer?
Sometimes good comes out of something really difficult.
Can you think of a good example?
Harrowing grace examples:
Hard digging to break up dry soil for planting
Chemotherapy treatment to deal with cancer
operation to remove damaged organ so you can survive
Enduring an interview to get a job
There is no summer without winter
For a reclusive person like Dickinson, visitors provided a lifeline to the world. Here she is describing the guest who is trying to leave but is too polite to just go.

10. What is the problem for a bird with no wings?
And thus, without a wing, Or service of a keel, Our summer made her light escape Into the beautiful.
What would happen to a ship with no keel?
Where has summer gone?
What does this suggest about the summer?

11. What do you notice about the structure of this poem?
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 who would be gone. And thus, without a wing, Or service of a keel, Our summer made her light escape Into the beautiful.
What do you notice about the structure of this poem?
This poem was originally 8 stanzas long but in the final version Dickinson took out stanzas Why might this 4 stanza structure be better for her theme?

12. Changing mood Stanza 1 “grief” “perfidy”
Stanza 4 “light escape” “beautiful”
How has the tone changed over the poem? How does the poet feel about the end of summer by the end of the poem?

13. theme The passage of time Death Perhaps most beautiful in our memory
Quiet and unnoticed, often until it is gone
Inevitable part of nature
Life is like the seasons so summer = fullness of life and death is linked to winter
The poem was composed around The final version of this poem was written out by Dickinson in the year that her mother died, 1882.
Fading of grief and fading of joy of summer are linked by Dickinson
With death comes grief, which fades imperceptibly. The summer also ‘dies’ imperceptibly but leaves us in a different mood altogether.
Death

14. Respond
How does Emily Dickinson present the theme of time in the poem ‘As Imperceptibly as Grief’?
Write about what Dickinson is saying about time.
Write about how Dickinson uses language and structure to present her ideas about time.
Write about how Dickinson’s own experiences might have influenced her ideas about time.