Emily Dickinson

Adrift! A little boat adrift!

Summary


"Adrift! A little boat adrift!" is a short poem that follows a small vessel lost on the water as night falls. Emily Dickinson sets a cry for guidance against the words of sailors and angels, each telling a different version of what happened to the boat. Dusk brings struggle and despair, while dawn brings a surprising turn. In just three stanzas, the poem asks how much a battered little boat can endure.

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Adrift! A little boat adrift!
And night is coming down!
Will no one guide a little boat
Unto the nearest town?

So Sailors say—on yesterday—
Just as the dusk was brown
One little boat gave up its strife
And gurgled down and down.

A small patched sailboat lifts its sails and speeds across the sea at dawn, illustrating Emily Dickinson's "Adrift! A little boat adrift!"

So angels say—on yesterday—
Just as the dawn was red
One little boat—o’erspent with gales—
Retrimmed its masts—redecked its sails—
And shot—exultant on!

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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a 19th-century American poet from Amherst, Massachusetts, known for her compact, dash-filled verse. Most of her poems were published only after her death, and this one uses the contrast between the sailors' account and the angels' account to turn despair into triumph.