Emily Dickinson

So bashful when I spied her

Summary


"So bashful when I spied her" is a short Emily Dickinson poem that follows a speaker who discovers a shy, blushing creature hidden among her leaflets. Tension builds as the speaker, breathless and helpless, carries her away from her simple haunts. Playful and coy, the poem hints at a stolen treasure from the dingle and the dell, and ends with a teasing refusal to name the one it was all done for.

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SO bashful when I spied her,
So pretty, so ashamed!
So hidden in her leaflets,
Lest anybody find;

So breathless till I passed her,
So helpless when I turned
And bore her, struggling, blushing,
Her simple haunts beyond!

For whom I robbed the dingle,
For whom betrayed the dell,
Many will doubtless ask me,
But I shall never tell!

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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a 19th-century American poet who wrote nearly 1,800 poems, most of them published only after her death. This poem is often read as a riddle about a wild flower, and its final lines show her love of secrets and wordplay.