"The Props assist the House"

By Emily Dickinson
[Analysis]
The Props assist the House [1]
Until the House is built [2]
And then the Props withdraw [3]
And adequate, erect, [4]
The House support itself [5]
And cease to recollect [6]
The Auger and the Carpenter -- [7]
Just such a retrospect [8]
Hath the perfected Life -- [9]
A past of Plank and Nail [10]
And slowness -- then the Scaffolds drop [11]
Affirming it a Soul. [12]
Poem 1142 [F729]
"The Props assist the House"
Analysis by David Preest
[Poem]
This poem, originally written in 1863 but copied to Sue in 1869, consists of two sentences, lines 1-7 describing the removal of 'the Props'
when the House has been built, and lines 8-12 using this as a simile for the removal of the scaffolding from the Soul when it has been
'perfected.'
If Emily is writing about her own soul, Richard Sewall is probably right to suggest that the poem refers to 1863 when she lived through a
time of terror but reached equilibrium. In that time of terror she had spoken of Auger-like 'Gimlets' in poem 244, told of when 'a Plank' in
Reason broke' in poem 280, and in a letter (L281) said that 'that old nail in my breast pricked me' (the italicised words all reappearing in
lines 7-10 of this poem).
Alternatively, it could refer to her more general development as a unique human being and poet, the props being the family, schools and
community which had nurtured her, and the removal of the props being her decision on reaching maturity to give up social and matrimonial
norms for a private life as a poet.
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