Emily Dickinson

A Counterfeit — a Plated Person —

Summary


"A Counterfeit — a Plated Person —" is a short poem in which Emily Dickinson refuses to live as a fake, whatever flaws may lie beneath her nature. In just a few lines, the speaker sets truth against lies, comparing honesty to good health, safety and open sky. A lie becomes a meagre exile, one that still speaks when we die. Compact and sharply worded, it asks what kind of self you are willing to be.

Listen to audio


Read Online

A Counterfeit — a Plated Person —
I would not be —
Whatever strata of Iniquity
My Nature underlie —
Truth is good Health — and Safety, and the Sky.
How meagre, what an Exile — is a Lie,
And Vocal — when we die —

A woman in a plain dress studies a flaking gilded brooch by a sunlit window, illustrating Emily Dickinson's poem A Counterfeit.
Add Ririro as a Preferred Source on Google
Related tags
, , , , , , ,

Credits

Emily Dickinson was a 19th-century American poet from Amherst, Massachusetts, known for her compressed lines, slant rhyme and distinctive dashes. Most of her poems were published only after her death, and this one shows her gift for turning a moral idea into a few bold images.