“We grow accustomed to the Dark” Introduction

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“We grow accustomed to the Dark” Summary

“We grow accustomed to the Dark” Themes

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  Human Courage and Resilience

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “We grow accustomed to the Dark”

• Lines 1-4

  We grow accustomed to the Dark —
  When Light is put away —
  As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
  To witness her Goodbye —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  A Moment — We Uncertain step
  For newness of the night —
  Then — fit our Vision to the Dark —
  And meet the Road — erect —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  And so of larger — Darknesses —
  Those Evenings of the Brain —
  When not a Moon disclose a sign —
  Or Star — come out — within —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  The Bravest — grope a little —
  And sometimes hit a Tree
  Directly in the Forehead —
  But as they learn to see —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  Either the Darkness alters —
  Or something in the sight
  Adjusts itself to Midnight —
  And Life steps almost straight.

  

  

  

  

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“We grow accustomed to the Dark” Symbols

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  The Neighbor

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• 

  The Road

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• 

  The Moon and Stars

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“We grow accustomed to the Dark” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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“We grow accustomed to the Dark” 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.

• Accustomed
• Disclose
• Grope
• Alters

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “We grow accustomed to the Dark”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“We grow accustomed to the Dark” Speaker

“We grow accustomed to the Dark” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “We grow accustomed to the Dark”

More “We grow accustomed to the Dark” Resources

• External Resources

  • Dickinson's Darknesses — A theory about the poet's notorious reclusiveness.

  • The Poem Out Loud — Check out an animation and reading of the poem. 

  • More Poems and Dickinson's Biography — A valuable resource from the Poetry Foundation.  

  • Dickinson's Process — An intriguing article about the more material side of Dickinson's writing.  

  • Dickinson's Letters — Fascinating excerpts from Dickinson's correspondence. 

• 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 died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • 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—

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!