A face devoid of love or grace,
A hateful, hard, successful face,
A face with which a stone
Would feel as thoroughly at ease
As were they old acquaintances—
First time together thrown.
A face devoid of love or grace
Summary
"A face devoid of love or grace" is a six-line poem in which Emily Dickinson sketches a portrait in stark, chilling strokes. The speaker studies a hateful, hard, successful face, one so cold that even a stone would feel at home beside it, like old acquaintances meeting for the first time. Brief and sharp, the poem sets surface triumph against inner emptiness and leaves you weighing what success costs a person.
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