Emily Dickinson

If Any Sink, Assure That This, Now Standing

poem 358

If Any Sink, Assure That This, Now Standing - meaning Summary

Strength Born of Failure

The poem says that survival can be born from conscious failure: something standing after others sink gains by the experience itself rather than by understanding why. It contrasts acute anticipatory dread with the sudden, silencing fact of impact. The closing line reframes death as nullifying the power of violence, offering a paradoxical consolation that the finality of dying cancels the ability to be harmed further.

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If any sink, assure that this, now standing Failed like Themselves and conscious that it rose Grew by the Fact, and not the Understanding How Weakness passed or Force arose Tell that the Worst, is easy in a Moment Dread, but the Whizzing, before the Ball When the Ball enters, enters Silence Dying annuls the power to kill.

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