Our share of night to bear —
Our share of morning —
Our blank in bliss to fill
Our blank in scorning —

Here a star, and there a star,
Some lose their way!
Here a mist, and there a mist,
Afterwards — Day!

Analysis, meaning and summary of Emily Dickinson's poem Our share of night to bear

2 Comments

  1. frumpo says:

    Life has ups and downs, and then heaven comes.

  2. Steve says:

    It strikes me that the meaning of the poem is geared towards life.

    Use of “Night” and “Morning” is reserved to actually account about “Dark” and “Light”, so good and bad. As particularly interesting use in the poem is ED’s use of the word “Blank” in lines 3 and 4.

    The blank is for us to input our own blisses and scorns.

    (Noting that stars were used for navigation in the 1800’s) Line 5’s use of the stars really talks about how people get lost occasionally in the dark.

    The “mist” in line 7 would really be an obscuring fog during even the good times. It is always possible to be led astray by obsfucation or misdirection.

    But alas, the end line provides hope to us, as ever and anon another day will begin, another sun will rise, and life will move on…

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