I Could Die to Know
poem 570
I Could Die to Know - meaning Summary
Yearning for Ordinary Knowledge
The speaker expresses intense curiosity about the ordinary life just beyond her window and imagines details of passersby and street noise. She contrasts the confined interior with the bustling exterior and longs even for the smallest legal freedom, the "Charter of the least Fly," to bridge inner solitude and public movement. The poem frames this yearning as both urgent and hypothetical, blurring dream and waking perception.
Read Complete AnalysesI could die to know ‘Tis a trifling knowledge News-Boys salute the Door Carts joggle by Morning’s bold face stares in the window Were but mine the Charter of the least Fly Houses hunch the House With their Brick Shoulders Coals from a Rolling Load rattle how near To the very Square His foot is passing Possibly, this moment While I dream Here
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