One Need Not be a Chamber — to be Haunted
Midweek Mélange
One Need Not be a Chamber — to be Haunted
Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886)
One need not be a chamber to be haunted,
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.
Far safer, of a midnight meeting
External ghost,
Than an interior confronting
That whiter host.
Far safer through an Abbey gallop,
The stones achase,
Than, moonless, one’s own self encounter
In lonesome place.
Ourself, behind ourself concealed,
Should startle most;
Assassin, hid in our apartment,
Be horror’s least.
The prudent carries a revolver,
He bolts the door,
O’erlooking a superior spectre
More near.
A note on this version:
Many variations of this poem are extant, so without more research than I have time to do at the moment, I have chosen this one, which appears in Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson, Edited by Robert N. Linscott, Anchor Books, copyright 1959.
Doubtless, earlier versions with her signature surfeit of unconventionally capitalized words (for emphasis?) and em dashes (to pause?) are more strictly “correct”; yet, after reading through at least seven versions—which, in addition to dashes and capitals, show occasional differences in words ("whiter host or cooler?), line breaks, and the insertion of commas and semicolons—I have selected this version as most able to convey to modern readers the emotion and introspective capacity she so masterfully evokes.
My apologies to scholars of Emily Dickinson, of whom I humbly request the benefit of your erudition, so that we all might learn more about our dear “poetess.” KMR
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Np matter the reading, the intent comes through.
A good choice!