I dwell in Possibility - A fairer House than Prose - More numerous of Windows - Superior - for Doors - Of Chambers as the Cedars - Impregnable of Eye - And for an Everlasting Roof The Gambrels of the Sky - Of Visitors - the fairest - For Occupation - This - The spreading wide my narrow Hands To gather Paradise -
Emily's House (10 Poems from Emily Dickinson)
Song Cycle by Evan Williams (b. 1988)
1. I Dwell in Possibility [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Further poems of Emily Dickinson
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Dimoro nel possibile", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
2. The Name ‑ Of It ‑ Is "Autumn" [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
The name—of it—is "Autumn"— The hue—of it—is Blood— An Artery—upon the Hill— A Vein—along the Road— Great Globules—in the Alleys— And Oh, the Shower of Stain— When Winds—upset the Basin— And spill the Scarlet Rain— It sprinkles Bonnets—far below— It gathers ruddy Pools— Then—eddies like a Rose—away— Upon Vermilion Wheels—
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
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Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]3. The Bee Is Not Afraid of Me [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
The bee is not afraid of me. I know the butterfly ; The pretty people in the woods Receive me cordially. The brooks laugh louder when I come, The breezes madder play; Wherefore, mine eye, thy silver mists ? Wherefore, O summer's day ?
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title
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Confirmed with Emily Dickinson, Poems, Boston : Little Brown, 1922, p.75
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
4. Within My Garden Rides a Bird [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Within my Garden, rides a Bird [Opon]1 a single Wheel -- Whose spokes a dizzy Music make As 'twere a travelling Mill -- He never stops, but slackens -- Above the Ripest Rose - Partakes without alighting -- And praises as he goes, Till every spice is tasted -- And then his Fairy Gig Reels in remoter atmospheres -- And I rejoin my Dog, And He and I, perplex us If positive, 'twere we -- Or bore the Garden in the Brain This Curiosity - But He, the best Logician, Refers my clumsy eye -- To just vibrating Blossoms! An Exquisite Reply!
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , appears in Kinder-Lieder, in 2. Lieder und Bilder aus der Natur, copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , "Der Kolibri", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with The Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. R.W. Franklin, Volume 2, Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998, Poem 370. Note: in one of the earlier published versions of this poem, stanza 5, line 2, word 3 was "duller" instead of "clumsy".
1 [sic] ; Philips: "Upon"Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]
5. These Are the Days When Birds Come Back [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
These are the days when Birds come back -- A very few -- a Bird or two -- To take a backward look. These are the days when skies resume The old -- old sophistries of June -- A blue and gold mistake. Oh fraud that cannot cheat the Bee -- Almost thy plausibility Induces my belief. Till ranks of seeds their witness bear -- And softly thro' the altered air Hurries a timid leaf. Oh Sacrament of summer days, Oh Last Communion in the Haze -- Permit a child to join. Thy sacred emblems to partake -- They consecrated bread to take And thine immortal wine!
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, first published 1890
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
6. I'm Nobody! Who Are You? [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us - don't tell! They'd [banish us]1, you know. How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog To tell [your]2 name the livelong [day]3 To an admiring bog!
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems: Second Series, first published 1891
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Ich bin ein Niemand! Wer bist Du?", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Io non sono nessuno, e tu?", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Bacon, G. Coates: "advertise"
2 Bacon, G. Coates: "one's"
3 Bacon, G. Coates: "June"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
7. Wild Nights ‑ Wild Nights! [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Wild nights! — Wild nights! Were I with thee, Wild nights should be Our luxury! Futile — the [Wind]1 — To a heart in port, — Done with the Compass, — Done with the Chart! Rowing in Eden — Ah! the Sea! Might I but moor — Tonight — In thee!
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), appears in Poems: Second Series, first published 1891
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Mei Foong Ang) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Sturmnacht! - Sturmnacht!", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Notti selvagge! Notti di tempesta!", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 note: sometimes "Winds". Harmer, Hoiby, Leisner, Rusche, A. Thomas: "Winds"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
8. Dawn [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Not knowing when the Dawn will come, I open every Door, Or has it Feathers, like a Bird, Or Billows, like a Shore –
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "Dawn", appears in Poems: Third Series, in 3. Nature, no. 7
See other settings of this text.
Confirmed with Poems by Emily Dickinson. Third Series, ed by Mabel Loomis Todd, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1896. Note: in this edition, the nouns are not capitalized and there is a question-mark at the end of the poem instead of an em-dash. Nemtsov uses the later version shown above.
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
9. Glee! The Great Storm Is Over! [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Glee! the great storm is over ! Four have recovered the land ; Forty gone down together Into the boiling sand. Ring, for the scant salvation ! Toll, for the bonnie souls, — Neighbor and friend and bridegroom, Spinning upon the shoals ! How they will tell the shipwreck When winter shakes the door, Till the children ask, " But the forty ? Did they come back no more ?" Then a silence suffuses the story, And a softness the teller's eye ; And the children no further question, And only the waves reply.
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title
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Confirmed with Emily Dickinson, Poems, Boston : Little Brown, 1922, p.2
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
10. The Shelter [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
The body grows outside, -- The more convenient way, -- That if the spirit like to hide, Its temple stands alway Ajar, secure, inviting; It never did betray The soul that asked its shelter In timid honesty.
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "The Shelter"
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Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]Total word count: 578