“I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Introduction

• Read the full text of “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”

“I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Summary

“I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Themes

• 

  Beauty, Truth, and Martyrdom

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.
• 

  Death, Finality, and Eternity

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”

• Lines 1-4

  I died for Beauty—but was scarce
  Adjusted in the Tomb
  When One who died for Truth, was lain
  In an adjoining Room—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-8

  He questioned softly "Why I failed?"
  "For Beauty," I replied—
  "And I—for Truth—Themself are One—
  We Brethren, are," He said—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 9-12

  And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night—
  We talked between the Rooms—
  Until the Moss had reached our lips—
  And covered up—Our names—

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Symbols

• 

  Moss

  • See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Scarce
• Adjusted
• Lain
• Adjoining Room
• Failed
• Themself
• Brethren
• Kinsmen
• Moss

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Speaker

“I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”

More “I died for Beauty—but was scarce” Resources

• External Resources

  • Dickinson at the Morgan Library — Watch a PBS segment on Emily Dickinson and a Dickinson exhibit at the Morgan Library in New York City.

  • A Dickinson Documentary — Watch a short film about Emily Dickinson from the PBS Voices & Visions series.

  • The Original Manuscript — View the original manuscript of the poem, and other Dickinson poems, via Harvard University's Emily Dickinson Archive.

  • The Dickinson Museum — Explore further resources at the website of the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts.

  • The Poet's Life and Work — Read a brief biography of Dickinson at the Poetry Foundation.

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of "I died for Beauty—but was scarce."

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!