The Way I Read a Letter’s This
poem 636
The Way I read a Letter’s this ‘Tis first I lock the Door And push it with my fingers next For transport it be sure And then I go the furthest off To counteract a knock Then draw my little Letter forth And slowly pick the lock Then glancing narrow, at the Wall And narrow at the floor For firm Conviction of a Mouse Not exorcised before Peruse how infinite I am To no one that You know And sigh for lack of Heaven but not The Heaven God bestow
The Way I Read a Letter’s This - meaning Summary
Private Ritual, Public Yearning
Dickinson describes the private ritual of reading a letter alone: locking the door, testing for interruptions, extracting and opening it cautiously, and scanning the room for imagined threats. The poem frames this everyday secrecy as a staged performance of solitude and self-possession. The final lines link this modest intimacy to spiritual yearning—she longs for an expansive consolation or presence, though not necessarily the conventional heaven offered by God.
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