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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Why ‑‑ do they shut me out of Heaven?
Language: English 
Our translations:  CAT FRE GER ITA
Why -- do they shut me out of Heaven?
Did I sing -- too loud?
But -- I can sing a little minor,
Timid as a bird.

Wouldn't the angels try me -- 
just -- once -- more --
Just -- see -- if I troubled them --
But don't -- shut the door!

Oh if I -- were the Gentlemen 
in the White Robe
and they -- were the little Hand -- that knocked --
Could -- I -- forbid?

Why do they shut me out of Heaven?
Did I sing too loud?

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   A. Copland 

About the headline (FAQ)

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Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Further poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1929 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990), "Why do they shut me out of Heaven?", 1949-50, published 1951 [ voice, piano ], from Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "Why -- do they shut me out of Heaven", 1999, first performed 2001 [ soprano and piano ], from Paradise - 7 songs for Soprano and Piano, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Irwin Heilner (b. 1908), "Poem", 1930, rev. 1972 [ medium voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Per què m’han tancat les portes del cel?", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Pourquoi m'ont-ils fermé la porte du ciel", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 78

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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