You’ll Find It When You Try to Die
poem 610
You’ll Find It When You Try to Die - meaning Summary
Memory Intensifies with Distance
Dickinson’s poem contemplates how death or the prospect of dying clarifies attachment and memory. As life recedes, older loves and losses reassert themselves more vividly than newer consolations. What once seemed replaceable becomes distinct and more valued; recent substitutes feel tawdry compared with the earlier affections. The speaker suggests that approaching death makes it easier to let go of the present because past relationships return with renewed force, revealing the limits of material comforts meant to fill emotional gaps.
Read Complete AnalysesYou’ll find it when you try to die The Easier to let go For recollecting such as went You could not spare you know. And though their places somewhat filled As did their Marble names With Moss they never grew so full You chose the newer names And when this World sets further back As Dying say it does The former love distincter grows And supersedes the fresh And Thought of them so fair invites It looks too tawdry Grace To stay behind with just the Toys We bought to ease their place
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