How the Waters Closed Above Him
poem 923
How the Waters Closed Above Him - meaning Summary
Death Shrouded, Memory Unspoken
The poem imagines a drowned boy and the unknowable inward life that preceded his death. Dickinson contrasts the visible, tranquil surface—lilies spreading over a pond—with the private, inaccessible anguish that "closed above Him." The unclaimed hat and jacket function as sparse, factual remnants that stand in for a lost personal history. The tone is quiet and elliptical, emphasizing absence and the limits of observation.
Read Complete AnalysesHow the Waters closed above Him We shall never know How He stretched His Anguish to us That is covered too Spreads the Pond Her Base of Lilies Bold above the Boy Whose unclaimed Hat and Jacket Sum the History
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