Emily Dickinson DID Do It Too

(Note: This post will only look right on the blog itself.  Formatting issues require it look silly as get-all on a white screen.)

In a comment on my earlier post, Loki wonders whether "a fourth underline [is] transcribed with an emoticon."  I replied:

I believe four underlines is smiley-face, five winking-smiley-face. Thus, your properly transcribed Emily Dickinson poem looks like this:

Only what followed the colon wasn't what your properly transcribed Emily Dickinson poem would look like, since it seems no underlines are allowed in comments.  They are, however, visible in posts.  So HERE NOW is what your properly transcribed Emily Dickinson poem would look like:

Because I could not stop for DEATH:)
HE kindly stopped for ME—
The Carriage held but just OURSELVES—
And IMMORTALITY

We slowly drove—HE knew no HASTE
And I had put away
My LABOR and my leisure too
For His CIVILITY—

We passed the SCHOOL, where Children STROVE
At Recess—in the Ring—
We passed the fields of Gazing Grain—
We passed the SETTING SUN—

Or rather—HE passed US—
The Dews drew quivering and chill—
For ONLY Gossamer, my Gown—
My Tippet—ONLY Tulle—

We paused before a HOUSE that SEEMED
A SWELLING ;) of the Ground—
The Roof was SCARCELY visible—
The Cornice—IN THE GROUND—

Since then—'tis Centuries—AND YET
Feels SHORTER than the DAY
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward ETERNITY :)

Maybe I'm a stickler for accuracy, but I find this transcription far more charming than one you find in textbooks.  I feel CLOSER to the original text, like I'm holding the very manuscript itself in my hands.  Maybe I could've been a paleographer after all ...