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In her own words

The Soul selects her own Society

Emily Dickinson · 1830-1886

The Soul selects her own Society –Then – shuts the Door –To her divine Majority –Present no more –
Unmoved – she notes the Chariots – pausing –At her low Gate –Unmoved – an Emperor be kneelingUpon her Mat –
I've known her – from an ample nation –Choose One –Then – close the Valves of her attention –Like Stone –

See it in her own handHoughton Library, Harvard

The poems here are transcribed from Dickinson's own manuscripts, which are in the public domain. Her dashes, capital letters, and spellings are kept as she wrote them, so these read differently from the smoothed versions printed after her death. The manuscript images are reproduced courtesy of the libraries that hold them: the Boston Public Library (no known copyright restrictions), Amherst College Archives and Special Collections (free for non-commercial and educational use, with credit), and the Houghton Library at Harvard University, whose policy permits publishing images of its public-domain holdings. The modern dash-faithful scholarly editions remain under copyright and are not used here.