Emily Dickinson

I shall know why when time is over

Summary


"I shall know why, when time is over" is a short poem by Emily Dickinson that turns a private ache into a vision of heavenly instruction. The speaker imagines Christ explaining every separate anguish in a "fair schoolroom of the sky," where long-held questions finally fall quiet. Then comes a startling shift: awe at his suffering may dissolve the pain that scalds now. Two brief stanzas hold doubt, longing, and fragile consolation.

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I shall know why, when time is over,
And I have ceased to wonder why;
Christ will explain each separate anguish
In the fair schoolroom of the sky.

He will tell me what Peter promised,
And I, for wonder at his woe,
I shall forget the drop of anguish
That scalds me now, that scalds me now.

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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a reclusive 19th-century American poet, known for her compressed lines, slant rhyme and bold dashes. Like most of her work, this poem went unpublished in her lifetime, and its schoolroom image reflects her habit of blending faith, doubt and everyday metaphor.