Yesterday I explored Dickinson’s use of the words “Olympics” and “athlete” in her poems. Never. She never used those words. However, she did use the word “sport” once, in “She lay as if in play,” and I posted that poem yesterday.
 | This poem describes the lifeless body of a once merry, dancing, sparking girl who now lies before her “as if in play” (though her arms are "half dropt / As if for lull of sport”). This theme, of mournful feeling following the death of a girl, appears in more than a handful of Dickinson’s poems, including “Taken from men - this morning,” “Whose cheek is this,” “She died – this was the way she died,” “'Twas just this time, last year, I died,” “There's something quieter than sleep,” “Glowing is her Bonnet,” and “She went as quiet as the Dew.” Except for one dash at the end of the seventh line, the poem in Johnson’s edition of Dickinson’s poems matches the poem in Frankin’s edition of her poems. In Johnson, the poem is number 369, and in Franklin, it is number 412. However, on the ED Archive, they show it in Franklin as “412A.” Hmm…I wonder what that “A” stands for?  |
| The first line of the poem called to mind another short poem, “She died at play.” However, that poem doesn’t seem to fit into the same category as those mentioned above – those with the theme of a dead girl. Take a look at it – and I’ll discuss that one tomorrow. |  |
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