"Of their peculiar light" By Emily Dickinson [Analysis]

Of their peculiar light [1] I keep one ray [2] To clarify the Sight [3] To seek them by [4]
Poem 1362 [F1396] "Of their peculiar light" Analysis by David Preest [Poem]

There are two versions of this poem. One, printed by Johnson, comes in a letter (L470) to Thomas Higginson in which Emily alludes to the deaths of Mrs Higginson's father and of her own father. If the two fathers are the 'they' of the poem, Emily will be suggesting to Mrs Higginson that keeping one ray 'of their peculiar light' will enable them to see their fathers better in their imagination. The second version, printed by Franklin, comes in a letter to an unidentified correspondent which was never sent. This second version changes the 'their' in line 1 to 'his,' and the 'I' of line 2 to 'we.' As the poem is introduced by the words, 'Thank you for the Delight. The Book is fair and lonely, like a Memoir of Evening,' Emily is presumably referring to the author of the book in the word 'his.'
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