Emily Dickinson

Gratitude Is Not the Mention

poem 989

Gratitude Is Not the Mention - meaning Summary

Quiet Appreciation Beyond Words

Dickinson argues that true gratitude is not named or declared but quietly felt beyond language. The poem contrasts outward expression with an inward, off-kilter appreciation that cannot be fully spoken. The sea image extends the idea: if the sea gives no answer to a sounding line, that silence suggests either absence or a deeper, inaccessible source. The poem probes the gap between felt feeling and verbal response.

Read Complete Analyses

Gratitude is not the mention Of a Tenderness, But its still appreciation Out of Plumb of Speech. When the Sea return no Answer By the Line and Lead Proves it there’s no Sea, or rather A remoter Bed?

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