Emily Dickinson

Tis True They Shut Me in the Cold

poem 538

Tis True They Shut Me in the Cold - meaning Summary

Forgiveness Despite Confinement

Dickinson’s short poem describes being physically or socially shut out while the oppressors remain comfortable. The speaker asks God to let their suffering be forgotten and not to harm the offenders’ reputation in heaven. They insist the injury was brief and offer forgiveness, tying their own pardon to divine forgiveness: if they can forgive, they request the same mercy. The poem centers on endurance, moral reciprocity, and mercy.

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‘Tis true They shut me in the Cold But then Themselves were warm And could not know the feeling ’twas Forget it Lord of Them Let not my Witness hinder Them In Heavenly esteem No Paradise could be Conferred Through Their beloved Blame The Harm They did was short And since Myself who bore it do Forgive Them Even as Myself Or else forgive not me

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