'There is a morn by men unseen' from Complete Emily Dickinson #24 #booktok #poetryperformance

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]I'm reading a thousand poems this year.

[00:00:01]Um, a bunch of them are going to be Emily Dickinson, of course, cuz she wrote like 1,700. And I have the complete works. Look at this [ __ ] of a poetry book.

[00:00:09]Okay, I got to settle down. I know this is a new book, so I'm just like super excited about it.

[00:00:17]Anyway, uh, so yes. Um, I'm going to read this one. It's number 24. I don't know, it goes on a bit, so I don't know if the format's going to be right. This is like an uh, famous poem of hers um, that gets deconstructed a bit online and by, you know, lit professors and lit people. Literature.

[00:00:36]Lit. They're lit.

[00:00:37]>> [laughter] >> I'm not one of those people. I'm just going to read it.

[00:00:42]And we're going to see what it's like.

[00:00:43]Okay.

[00:00:45]There is a morn by men unseen whose maids upon remoter green keep their seraphic May.

[00:00:55]And all day long with dance and game and gamble I may never name, employ their holiday.

[00:01:04]Here to light measure move the feet which walk no more the village street nor by the wood are bound.

[00:01:16]Here are the birds that sought the sun when last year's distaff idle hung and summer's brows were bound. Ne'er saw Ne'er.

[00:01:29]>> [gasps] >> I such a wondrous scene, ne'er such a ring on such a green nor so serene array as if the stars some summer night should swing their cups of chrysolite and reveal and revel till the day.

[00:01:47]Like thee to dance like thee to sing people upon the mystic green, I ask each new May morn, I wait thy far fantastic bells announcing me in the other dells unto [snorts] the different dawn.

[00:02:08]See, I've read a bunch of Dickinson now that's like, you know, about birds or spiders or paths. And yeah, there's always some undercurrent of something else going on, but this one is really special one. And maybe I'm biased because I had already read it and I'd seen some commentary on it and dissection.

[00:02:28]But I do love that she talks she says the word green so much and there's a lot to deconstruct in here. I mean, I think the internet has like, you know, lectures for an hour on this thing or something. So, um if you're into it, then yeah, get into it. I uh yeah.

[00:02:50]These are These are good. These are good. It's all I got to say. Just keep reading. Keep reading poetry with me.

[00:02:55]Let me read poetry to you. Keep letting me read poetry to you.

[00:02:58]>> [laughter] >> That'd be nice.