Emily Dickinson

The Outlet

Summary


The Outlet is a short poem by Emily Dickinson in which a river speaks directly to the sea, begging to be welcomed. Across four tiny stanzas, the river's voice moves from hopeful question to anxious waiting to bold bargaining, offering brooks gathered from hidden, spotted nooks as a gift. It is a quiet piece about longing, devotion and the nervous hope of belonging, ending on a single plea that lingers long after the last line.

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MY river runs to thee:
Blue sea, wilt welcome me?

My river waits reply.
Oh sea, look graciously!

I’ll fetch thee brooks
From spotted nooks,—

Say, sea, take me!

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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a reclusive 19th-century American poet from Amherst, Massachusetts, whose compact, dash-filled verse was largely published after her death. In "The Outlet," she gives her river a voice of its own, a favorite device of hers when writing about nature and the yearning for something larger.