Emily Dickinson

The Missing All Prevented Me

poem 985

The Missing All Prevented Me - fact Summary

Published Posthumously in 1929

This short lyric insists that awareness of the "Missing All"—a vast absence—kept the speaker from agonizing over lesser losses. Even the disappearance of a world or the sun could not distract them from daily labor and curiosity. The poem compresses a steady, pragmatic stance toward loss into compact, plain images, emphasizing work and composure over speculative distraction.

Read Complete Analyses

The Missing All prevented Me From missing minor Things. If nothing larger than a World’s Departure from a Hinge Or Sun’s extinction, be observed ‘Twas not so large that I Could lift my Forehead from my work For Curiosity.

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