You love me — you are sure —
I shall not fear mistake —
I shall not cheated wake —
Some grinning morn —
To find the Sunrise left —
And Orchards — unbereft —
And Dollie — gone!
I need not start — you’re sure —
That night will never be —
When frightened — home to Thee I run —
To find the windows dark —
And no more Dollie — mark —
Quite none?
Be sure you’re sure — you know —
I’ll bear it better now —
If you’ll just tell me so —
Than when — a little dull Balm grown —
Over this pain of mine —
You sting — again!
Wonderful poem!
This poem is fab . As an Emily Dickinson poem this one has to be the best she eva wrote . Please email me if u have any other comments about my spelling and I love all of United States Places . U.K and U.S rocks
A house of love built upon deception and unfaithfulness will soon tumble down.
As of typical Dickinson poems, this one too has no title. “You love me – you are sure –“ is a relatively short and concise poem of the narrator seeking for her lover’s confirmation of his love for her. The repetition of the phrase “you’re sure” stresses the narrator’s painful insecurity towards her lover’s love. The poem is comprised of one stanza with seven lines and two sestets, having approximately six syllables on each line, although the second last line has seven, and the fourth and the last line has four each. The poem has dominant iambic trimeter, except for the fourth and last lines in the first stanza, which are dimeters. The rhyme scheme throughout the whole poem is uncertain. In the first stanza, it is mainly true rhyme, with the rhyme scheme as ABBCDDC. The second and third stanzas have mainly slant rhymes such as ‘know’, ‘grown’ and ‘now’, ‘so’. The second stanza’s rhyme scheme is ABCDDC, and the third is ABBACC.
The tone of the poem is one of uncertainty and questioning. It progresses from fake certainty to apparent appeal for assurance. The reason I say fake certainty is because although the first two stanzas start with “you are sure”, “I shall not fear” and “I need not start”, the narrator then proceeds to comfort herself by saying that she shall not find “the Sunrise left – And Orchards – unbereft—“ and “the windows dark”. This proves she has been pondering the situation for a long time, imagining what it’d be if her lover left. However, when it comes to the third stanza, she finally confronts her suspicions and questions her lover upfront, asking him to “just tell me so”.
The narrator uses household imagery, garden plants, flowers and the sun to illustrate what the idea of comfort and security. When her lover is not sure of his love, the sunrise will leave, the windows will be dark, the house will be empty, and Dollie will be gone. She uses these to describe what it’d be like if her lover was gone, because these were all that were dear to Emily Dickinson, the poet. All her life she had lived in her father’s house and garden, never leaving the house at all. So by using nature and her home to describe her lover’s absence, it shows to us how very dear to her his certainty of his love is.
The word “cheated” in the first stanza hints a connotation of an affair. She’s trying to convince herself that she shall not make a mistake and wake up being cheated to a “grinning” morning. She hopes that he day shall not mock her of her innocence and ignorance. Somehow, the narrator knows her lover doesn’t actually love her. That’s why she’s telling her lover to simply tell her the truth, and at the same time she’s also preparing herself for his heart-breaking words. This is why she says in the third stanza, “I’ll bear it better now— If you’ll just tell me so—“, it’s because she’s already hurting and doubting. However, she also says that, if he doesn’t tell her, her doubt and hurt will start to heal and she will trust in him. Then, if it is at that moment he decides to tell her, his words will sting, again. “Again” confirms our suspicion that she’s been hurt before, which also explains her preparedness.
Adhering to the style of most other Emily Dickinson poems, this poem also has a wide used of capitalization of stressed words, and dashes between lines. In this particular poem, capitalized words are not many, and they mostly seem to refer to a person, or a virtue. “Dollie”, as seen in the context, mostly refers to her lover. At the end of the first two stanzas, the narrator repeats “and Dollie gone”, hinting his possible departure from her life. “Orchards” would mostly mean herself, as they would be “unbereft” if “Sunrise”, which refers also to her lover, leaves. Therefore, even though her lover leaves, she would be left behind. This also slightly hints her dependence towards her lover, because an orchard cannot live without the sun. Slowly trusting and healing over time, “dull Balm” would most probably be a metaphor of her hurting recovery and numb feelings.
This poem is one of hurt and insecurity. The narrator has been hurt more than once, and is trying to comfort herself at first, but ends up questioning. The only wish for her is a confirmation of her lover’s love, and that he’ll never leave again, because she cannot live without him. However, because of his unfaithfulness towards her, she resolves to write this sincere bittersweet appeal to him.
this poem is from the heart, her own experiences, and even though i don’t fully understand it, i get where she is coming from and why she is insecure about her relationship.
This is adressed to her beloved Susan
Love is a risk. Do we dare to let go of our “dollies”– our many distractions that tell us we don’t need it– those things that we feel sure can’t hurt us; will always be there for us, and that we can control. Maybe Emily was telling us that “love” is mere folly and really you can only count on your self. This is totaly about romantic love which is an illusion and not real.
I like this poem. It is that age old question: Do you really love me? It makes her vulnerable.
This is kind of wierd
Great poem itz what every man or women wounld like to noe if there partner iz sure they want to take the next step in their relationship
I really like this poem
i didnt think that my favorite poemwriter could write a poem on my birthday!
Emily Dickinson, in my opoinion, was a mastere of the english language. Only one that has been through so much greef could understand the truth behind society’s true nature.
This poem was very confusing to me. It didn’t make any sense. Emily is a stupid poet, and i am glad she is dead. I like Charles DICKinson. Now, he puts the Dick in DICKinson. My name is Ben Dover, and by the way I am a woman on the inside.
I think this poem is very interesting.
Eventhrough I don’t know what she saying. She is real
deep with her poems.
i didnt really like this poem it didnt make any sence
when my bf broke up with me he swore he love me after reading this poem my ex really disgusted me
the poem shows great compassion poems are made to show compasion llike this i hope u like this poem because i do and it is great
I believe Emily Dickinson speaks of hurt from an relationship. Her thoughts stress, You love me–you are sure. To me she asks and answers before she receives the truth. She says that at a part in her life it seems she would not be able to bear the pain, but at some point in her life she became stronger. It seem that she was saying come on and let’s get it over with. Tell me the truth, I can handle it.
emily was a master poet .. she was so frank with ideas and so smooth with thoughts so acquainted with words .. that she created many master pieces like this and “I am nobody” etc. its a beautiful arranged piece of art that only Emily could write .. simply rich
this reminds me of the time that boy broke up me after he swore his love and i said are you sure???many times has he said yes and then it was over and it appeared to be my last breath!(get over it hs sux!!)
the poem went way out of puportion it was exstreme and shallow this is not a poem i would like to read again