Emily Dickinson: There Came A Day At Summer's Full

"XIII

THERE came a day at summer’s full
Entirely for me;
I thought that such were for the saints,
Where revelations be.

The sun, as common, went abroad, 5
The flowers, accustomed, blew,
As if no sail the solstice passed
That maketh all things new.

The time was scarce profaned by speech;
The symbol of a word 10
Was needless, as at sacrament
The wardrobe of our Lord.

Each was to each the sealed church,
Permitted to commune this time,
Lest we too awkward show 15
At supper of the Lamb.

The hours slid fast, as hours will,
Clutched tight by greedy hands;
So faces on two decks look back,
Bound to opposing lands. 20

And so, when all the time had failed,
Without external sound,
Each bound the other’s crucifix,
We gave no other bond.

Sufficient troth that we shall rise— 25
deposed, at length, the grave—
To that new marriage, justified
Through Calvaries of Love!" (Dickinson).

After reading this poem by Dickinson I think that it is about two lovers during an afternoon. They are not really supposed to be together, but they like each other a lot, so they make time to see one another. The first two stanzas of the poem describe the setting. Dickinson says that it is summer, and during this particular day she feels that it is a day for her and no one else. During the second stanza we can conclude that it is a the summer solstice, and although she feels the day is different, nature goes on like any other day. The third stanza says that she does not need to speak, because the meaning of why she is where she is, is already known by herself, so she does not need to say it. She says this feeling is like when you are at sacrament at mass and God knows what you are thinking, so you do not need to explain.

I think the fourth stanza is saying that the author and her lover both belong to different churches, so they are not allowing to see each other or get married. The fifth stanza is saying that the time is passing by fast while they are together, and they soon have to look back to their different lives and leave one another again. I think the sixth stanza is saying that when they have to leave, they take the others crucifix, so they will have something to hold on to from their lover.

As for the last stanza, I think it means that they have decided that they want to get married, and they will keep that promise to each other no matter what anyone says. The last line, "Through Calvaries of Love"(Dickinson) basically means through sufferings of love, so they are suffering because they love each other so much but are not allowed to get married.

This excerpt from Bloom's Literary Reference Online can help one conclude that this poem is about two lovers who cannot be together. This quote says that the poem is about a love that is formed and then taken away within the same day because the lovers cannot be together. It says that they can only be together after death, so they must wait until their life is over to be together.

"Unlike the great majority of Dickinson's poems, this famous and much-debated narrative appears to contain a specific "scene" from the poet's life: a day within the summer solstice, June 21 and 22, when a love is consummated and virtually simultaneously renounced. Appropriately, within this season of weddings, a "marriage" takes place, yet its only "future" is in the life to come. The poem is Dickinson's most complete expression of this central theme of a reunion with the lost beloved in God's heaven, a vision evoked in other poems of this period" (Leiter).

Works Cited:

Dickinson, Emily. "XII: There came a day at summer’s full". Part Three: Love. Complete Poems. 1924. http://www.bartleby.com/113/3013.html

Leiter, Sharon. "'There came a Day—at Summer's full—'." Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCED126&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 22, 2011).