Emily Dickinson

A train went through a burial gate

Summary


"A Train Went Through a Burial Gate" is a short poem by Emily Dickinson in which a bird bursts into song beside a burial ground as a train passes through. With throat quivering and notes carefully adjusted, the small creature fills the churchyard with music — as if offering a spontaneous farewell to the dead. Dickinson captures a fleeting, tender moment where nature instinctively responds to human mortality, lending the scene quiet dignity through the bird's unselfconscious song.

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A train went through a burial gate,
A bird broke forth and sang,
And trilled, and quivered, and shook his throat
Till all the churchyard rang;

And then adjusted his little notes,
And bowed and sang again.
Doubtless, he thought it meet of him
To say good-by to men.

Credits

Emily Dickinson was a 19th-century American poet, widely regarded as one of the most original voices in English-language poetry. Known for her compressed verse, slant rhyme, and preoccupation with death and nature, she published very few poems during her lifetime. This poem is a characteristic miniature, using a bird's song in a churchyard to meditate on mortality with characteristic lightness and precision.

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