War of the Words?

Was Emily Dickinson a lover or a fighter?  Did she write more about war or peace?  Did she use the term "hate" more than the words "hug" or "kiss"?

Well, I looked into all of this so that you don't have to!  The results are below -- and it's safe to say that Miss. Emily was, indeed, a lover not a fighter.

WORD / # OF TIMES USED IN A POEM:

Love:  104
Hate: 9

War: 5
Battle:  6
Peace:  25

Fight:  8
Hug:  1*
​Kiss:  10

* Dickinson only used the word "hug" once in the poem, "I bring an unaccustomed win" -- and she did not use the word to mean one person embracing another.  Instead, the line with the word "hug" says, "The hands still hug the tardy glass."

​

POEMS WITH THE WORD "HATE"

A face devoid of love or grace
Advance is life's condition
I had no time to hate
I worked for chaff and earning wheat
Mine enemy is growing old
My triumph lasted till the drums
The frost of death was on the pane
The rat is the concisest tenant
This slow day moved along


POEMS WITH THE WORD "WAR"

My wars are laid away in books
Their barricade against the sky
There's the Battle of Burgoyne
'Tis seasons since the dimpled war
'Twas fighting for his life he was


​POEMS WITH THE WORD "BATTLE"

"Morning" means "milking" to the farmer
My friend attacks my friend!
My wars are laid away in books
The battle fought between the soul
There's the Battle of Burgoyne
Water is taught by thirst
​

POEMS WITH THE WORD "FIGHT"

"Sic transit gloria mundi,"
Bless God, he went as soldiers
Dying! To be afraid of thee
I see thee better in the dark,
The frost of death was on the pane
There is a strength in proving that it can be borne
To fight aloud is very brave
'Twas fighting for his life he was


POEMS WIT THE WORD "PEACE"

A sloop of amber slips away
A tooth opon our peace
After a hundred years
An awful tempest mashed the air
His cheek is his biographer
His oriental heresies
I had no cause to be awake
I many times thought peace had come
If pain for peace prepares
It came at last but prompter death
It ceased to hurt me, though so slow
It might be lonelier
Me from Myself -- to banish --
Oh future! thou secreted peace
Oh what a grace is this
On this wondrous sea
One of the ones that Midas touched
Peace is a fiction of our faith
The crickets sang
The daisy follows soft the sun
The long sigh of the Frog
The Martyr Poets -- did not tell --
The mob within the heart
Water is taught by thirst


POEMS WITH THE WORD "HUG"

I bring an unaccustomed wine


POEMS WITH THE WORD "KISS"

"Go tell it" - what a message
A drop fell on the apple tree
A visitor in marl
Blazing in gold and quenching in purple
Go slow, my soul, to feed thyself
He told a homely tale
I never told the buried gold
There's something quieter than sleep
Three times -- we parted -- Breath -- and I --
Tie the strings to my life, my Lord

​POEMS WITH THE WORD "LOVE"

"Why do I love" You, Sir?
A face devoid of love or grace
A shade opon the mind there passes
A single Screw of Flesh
A word made flesh is seldom
Absence disembodies - so does death
As by the dead we love to sit
As plan for noon and plan for night
As Summer into Autumn slips
Because he loves her
Because that you are going
Behold this little bane
But little carmine hath her face
By a flower - by a letter
Come show thy Durham breast
Delayed till she had ceased to know
Did we disobey Him?
Doubt Me! My Dim Companion!
Dying! To be afraid of thee
Far from love the Heavenly Father
Fitter to see him I may be
Glowing is her bonnet
Had this one day not been
His voice decrepit was with joy
How destitute is he
How fleet - how indiscreet an one
How many schemes may die
I cannot be ashamed
I cautious scanned my little life
I gave myself to him
I had no time to hate
I have never seen 'volcanoes'
I have no life but this
I have not told my garden yet,
I measure every Grief I meet
I often passed the village
I see thee better -- in the Dark --
I shall not murmur if at last
I think the longest hour of all
I tried to think a lonelier Thing
If those I loved were lost
Is it too late to touch you, dear?
It came at last but prompter death
I've got an arrow here
Love -- is anterior to Life --
Love -- is that later Thing than Death --
Love -- thou art high --
Love can do all but raise the dead
Love is done when love's begun
Love reckons by itself -- alone --
Love's stricken "why"
Me prove it now - Whoever doubt
Not that he goes -- we love him more
Perhaps you think me stooping
Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!
Rehearsal to Ourselves
Safe despair it is that raves
So well that I can live without
Sometimes with the heart
Struck was I nor yet by lightning
Summer we all have seen
Superfluous were the Sun
That I did always love
That love is all there is
The bustle in a house
The daisy follows soft the sun
The immortality she gave
The incidents of love
The love a child can show below
The lovely flowers embarrass me
The Manner of it's Death
The Test of Love -- is Death --
There came a day at summer's full
These are the days that reindeer love
These are the nights that beetles love
This is my letter to the world
Till Death -- is narrow Loving --
'Tis not the swaying frame we miss
To die -- takes just a little while --
To earn it by disdaining it
To fight aloud is very brave
To know just how He suffered -- would be dear --
To love thee year by year
To pile like Thunder to it's close
To wait an Hour -- is long --
'Twas Love -- not me --
'Twas the old -- road -- through pain --
Two travellers perishing in snow
Unable are the loved to die
Victory comes late
Water is taught by thirst
We cover thee - sweet face
We learned the whole of love
We outgrow love like other things
Wert Thou but ill -- that I might show thee
Whatever it is -- she has tried it --
When Katie walks, this simple pair accompany her side
While it is alive
Who has not found the heaven below
Whose cheek is this?
You left me - sire - two legacies
You love me - you are sure
You love the Lord -- you cannot see --
You'll find -- it when you try to die --

More statistics on Dickinson's word choice can be found HERE.