1864 Summary

In Poem 861 Emily explores the idea that pains grown less with time. Instead of agreeing with this idea Emily states that these sufferings only cause the emotions to become harder or tougher with time. She writes that time does not cure troubles, but only determines if pain is real or not. If pain goes away with time, Emily states, it was never a problem at all.

Poem 881 is about the sadness one feels when they have not told a deceased loved one how much they cared for that person. Emily writes in stanza one that she intended to find this person but unfortunately death found the person first. In stanza two Emily recounts how she had intended to tell this loved one how much she wanted to be with them, but death had already been to this person first. Now Emily finds rest only in...