Emily Dickinson

The Power to Be True to You

poem 464

The Power to Be True to You - meaning Summary

Fidelity Despite Judgment

The speaker claims a personal power to remain faithful to a divine addressee despite external judgment. Imagery of the Judgment imprinting on the speaker's face expresses confrontation with moral scrutiny. The poem insists that no human can deprive the speaker of this fidelity, and that such devotion elevates the speaker beyond conventional ideas of heaven and reduces any lesser invitation or claim on the soul.

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The power to be true to You, Until upon my face The Judgment push his Picture Presumptuous of Your Place Of This Could Man deprive Me Himself the Heaven excel Whose invitation Yours reduced Until it showed too small

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