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In her own words

There's a certain Slant of light

Emily Dickinson · 1830-1886

There's a certain Slant of light,Winter Afternoons –That oppresses, like the HeftOf Cathedral Tunes –
Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –We can find no scar,But internal differenceWhere the Meanings, are –
None may teach it – Any –'Tis the Seal Despair –An imperial afflictionSent us of the Air –
When it comes, the Landscape listens –Shadows – hold their breath –When it goes, 'tis like the DistanceOn the look of Death –

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.