31
At his Crucifixion, Christ cried down from the cross: “Eli, Eli, lama sabach
thani?” The phrase means, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
(Aramaic; see the Bible, Matthew 27:46, KJV).
32
“Palm” refers to the palms the populace spread in his path to welcome Jesus
when he entered Jerusalem a week before his Crucifixion; Palm Sunday (the
Sunday before Easter) commemorates that event. Calvary is a hill outside the city
where Jesus was crucified.
33
Garden outside Jerusalem where Jesus was betrayed (see the Bible, Matthew 26:
36-50).
34
Two-masted sailing ship.
36
Town in northeastern Massachusetts; site of a battle fought on April 19, 1775, that marked the start of the American Revolution.
37
In the Bible (1 Samuel 17), the young shepherd David, who became king of Judah and Israel, used a slingshot and stones to kill Goliath, champion of the Philistines.
38
Muslin is a plain-woven cotton fabric; broadcloth a densely textured woolen fabric; and organdy a stiff, transparent fabric of cotton or silk.
40
Meaning without cease; a good example of Dickinson’s habit of coining words.
41
City in south-central Bolivia, founded after silver was discovered there in 1545.
42
Food; delicious dishes.
43
Metallic sulfide minerals, most commonly, gold-colored pyrite.
45
Wake-up call, especially from a bugle.
46
American migratory songbird.
47
Slow, stately dances that originated in seventeenth-century France.
48
In the future; likely to come about.
49
Those honored or awarded prizes for great achievements.
50
Strapped or encircled, as with a belt or band.
53
Light literary or intellectual writings (French).
54
Ancient units of linear measure.
55
High-speed sailing vessel.
57
Gold coin issued in England from 1663 to 1813, worth one pound, one shilling.
58
In medieval Europe, a lyric poet who wrote and performed songs about courtly
love.
60
One of the Pleiades, a star cluster named for the daughters of Atlas in Greek
mythology.
62
Salts or esters of carbonic acid, which releases carbon dioxide.
63
Dickinson is quoting from the Lord’s Prayer.
64
Funnel-shaped device used to feed grain into a mill.
66
Room or unfinished part of a house just under the roof.
67
Cut with blows of a heavy instrument.
68
In the Bible, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” (John 3:3-4, KJV).
69
Dimity is a sheer cotton fabric of plain weave in checks or stripes.
71
Small hand drums or tambourines.
73
Tyre was an ancient Phoenician city on the eastern Mediterranean Sea in what
is today southern Lebanon.
75
Old name for a late-flowering aster. Other plants mentioned include: anemone, a type of buttercup; batschia, the old name for a plant with delicate blue flowers; epigea, a trailing evergreen shrub; and rhodora, an azalea with rose-purple flowers.
78
Lustrous fabric made with flat patterns in a satin weave.
79
Borough of southwestern England.
80
Marked by dullness and drabness.
81
Mystical poem or incantation.
82
Playful repartee, banter.
83
Lengthy, usually religious, choral work.
85
Burma, now known as Myanmar, is a country in southeastern Asia.
86
Mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, who went in search of the Golden Fleece.
88
Capital of Tunisia, a country in northern Africa.
89
Composed of hemp, a tough, fibrous plant used to make rope.
90
Fourth-brightest star in the sky and the brightest in the constellation Boötes.
92
Step or steps for passing over a fence or wall.
95
Covered with truffles (fungi that are considered a delicacy).
96
Weedy plant, especiallv the common vetch.
97
judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus (see the Bible, Matthew 26:14-16).
98
Art of discovering character from outward appearance.
99
Extremely hard stone; unbreakable or extremely hard substance.
100
Urgent states of affairs.
101
Variably colored, transparent to translucent glassy mineral.
102
Large vessels for holding wine or other drinks.
103
Beads of polished shells strung in strands and used by Native Americans as
money, ceremonial pledges, or ornaments.
106
This word seems to be Dickinson’s coinage.
108
Druids were ancient Celtic priests associated with magic and wizardry
109
Also known as olivine, a greenish mineral.
111
Crimson or purple dye.
112
American writer William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) refers to this flower in his poem “The Death of the Flowers.”
113
Scottish poet James Thomson (1700—1748), best known for his long poem The Seasons.
114
Creeping plant with fragrant white or pink flowers.
116
Loose white ecclesiastical vestment with large open sleeves.
117
Church officer who tends church property and performs minor duties, such as ringing the bell for services.
119
Title for a gentleman (Spanish).
120
Of a region of southwestern Russia on the coast of the Black Sea.
123
Vertical triangular ends of a building extending from the cornice or eaves to the ridge of the roof.
127
Inlet of the East China Sea.
128
Meaning iridescent; an opal is an iridescent mineral.
129
Translucent quartz in parallel layers of different colors.
132
Secluded hollow or small valley.
133
Restrains, lessens in intensity.
134
Ceremony accompanying judgment by the Inquisition; the burning of a heretic.
135
Dickinson’s coinage, meaning “reaching everywhere.”
136
Schoolmaster or clergyman.
137
Assumption is the process of being taken up to heaven.
138
Strum, or make a monotonous humming sound.
139
Subtly deceptive reasons or arguments.
141
The Don and the Dnieper (mentioned two lines down) are rivers in Russia.
142
A tabernacle is a tent sanctuary; also a house of worship.
143
Here and elsewhere in Dickinson’s work, “seal” likely has biblical resonance, as in the Seven Seals of the Apocalypse (see Revelation 5).
145
One of the leaves composing the calyx of a flower.
146
A patron saint of Ireland; founder of several convents.
148
Tool for boring holes.
150
A fore- and aft-rigged boat.
151
Guido Reni (1575-1642), Italian painter known for his religious and mythological subjects. Tiziano Vicellio (14857-1576), Italian painter renowned for his use of color. Italian painter (1581-1641), a leader of the Baroque eclectic school; also known as Domenico Zampieri.
152
In Greek mythology, the home of the blessed after death.
155
Tasmania; founded as a penal colony in the early 1800s.
156
Fine French porcelain, often elaborately decorated.
157
A reference to the Bible, Revelation 19:9, describing a metaphorical marriage
between the church and Jesus (the Lamb): “Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb” (KJV).
161
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
162
Ruined city in south-central India, where diamonds from nearby mines were cut and sold during the fifteenth century.
165
Plant with bell-shaped blue or white flowers.
167
The Apostle Thomas was at first skeptical that Jesus had risen (see the Bible, John 20:24-28).
168
Caspian Sea, a saline lake between southeastern Europe and western Asia.
169
Extra payment or profit.
170
Do not (Scottish dialect).
171
Outfitted with shoulder ornaments, especially on military uniforms.
172
Male ancestors, forefathers.
174
Francisco Pizarro (c.1475-1541), Spanish explorer and conqueror of Peru.
175
Archangel acting as the messenger of God (see the Bible, Luke 1:19).
176
A rare autobiographical note; Dickinson wore only white from her twenties on.
177
A miter is the liturgical headdress of a Christian bishop.
178
Valuable white fur of a weasel.
179
Shield or shield-shaped emblem bearing a coat of arms.
180
Elected chief magistrates of the former republics of Venice and Genoa.
184
Unyielding, like the hard precious stone adamant.
185
Brilliant display, as in a performance.
186
Small bunches of flowers.
187
Low-growing shrub with small, usually pinkish-purple flowers, which grows abun
dantly on moors.
190
The biblical story of Jacob wrestling the angel (see the Bible, Genesis 32:24-30)
seems to inform this poem; a spar is a stout pole used to support sails and rigging.
191
Horizontal molded crown atop a building or wall.