"I fit for them --"

By Emily Dickinson
[Analysis]
I fit for them -- [1]
I seek the Dark [2]
Till I am thorough fit. [3]
The labor is a sober one [4]
With this sufficient sweet [5]
That abstinence of mine produce [6]
A purer food for them, if I succeed, [7]
If not I had [8]
The transport of the Aim -- [9]
Poem 1109 [F1129]
"I fit for them"
Analysis by David Preest
[Poem]
This poem is written on an unfinished worksheet and Thomas Johnson suggests that line 1 may have been jotted down as a partial variant
for line 3. The poem could apply to anyone making sacrifices for the good of others, but it applies especially well to Emily herself. She
seeks 'the Dark' of her own house and exclusion from society until she is thoroughly fit to write poems. It is hard, sober work, but she is led
on by the thought that, if her poems are successful and published, she is providing 'purer food' for people by her abstinence from society,
and, if they are unsuccessful, at least her aim was a reason for elation.
Top