When Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd were corresponding with one another in 1891 to select poems for their second volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems, Higginson reviewed those that Emily had sent to him over the years. He mailed a list of first lines to Todd and said, “Let me know which you want copied for you and I’ll send them. All marked (with a check mark) should go in.”
“One verse,” he added, “I copy for the pleasure of copying it, though you may have it….She wrote it after re-reading my ‘Decoration.’ It is the condensed essence of that & so far finer.”
Dickinson’s "far finer" poem to which he referred was “Lay this laurel on the one":
Lay this laurel on the one
Too intrinsic for renown.
Laurel! veil your deathless tree.
Him you chasten, that is He!
Because this quatrain was a particular favorite of Colonel Higginson's it was used as the concluding poem of the Second Series.
“One verse,” he added, “I copy for the pleasure of copying it, though you may have it….She wrote it after re-reading my ‘Decoration.’ It is the condensed essence of that & so far finer.”
Dickinson’s "far finer" poem to which he referred was “Lay this laurel on the one":
Lay this laurel on the one
Too intrinsic for renown.
Laurel! veil your deathless tree.
Him you chasten, that is He!
Because this quatrain was a particular favorite of Colonel Higginson's it was used as the concluding poem of the Second Series.
Higginson's poem "Decoration," mentioned in his letter to Todd, is shown below. The Latin phrase Manibus o date lilia plenis means "Give lilies with full hands," originating from Virgil's Aeneid (VI.883) to mourn the premature death of Marcellus. It signifies a funerary offering, symbolizing purity and grief.
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