Emily Dickinson
“I dwell in Possibility —”
Poem 466 (“I dwell in — Possibility”), c. 1862
Documented source
Attribution
Emily Dickinson
Source
Poem 466 (“I dwell in — Possibility”), c. 1862
In full
“I dwell in Possibility —”
Status
Public domain in the United States
Every quote here is traced to a documented source. How we verify →
About this line
Dickinson wrote this poem around 1862 and never gave it a title — the first line became the whole argument. She spent most of her life in near-seclusion in Amherst, yet built something larger to live inside: Possibility itself. In the poem she sets Possibility — poetry, imagination, the life of the mind — against Prose: the ordinary, the expected, the room you’re already standing in.
Why we carry this line
It reads like permission. Keep the door open, don’t close things down. I need that reminder; figured I’m not the only one.
More from this authorEmily Dickinson →