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"A Bird, came down the Walk" by Emily Dickinson (1891)
The Poetry Foundation website reprinted the version of Dickinson’s poem from R.W. Franklin’s 1999 book The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition. “A Bird, came down the Walk” was originally published in Dickinson’s posthumous 1891 collection titled Poems.
This poem shares the narrative gesture of a bird refusing a human’s “Crumb”/”crumbs” with “Fame is a fickle food” (Line 14 and Line 6, in the respective poems). In both poems, Dickinson characterizes the bird as discerning. “A Bird, came down the Walk” also showcases Dickinson’s influential use of em dashes and idiosyncratic capitalization.
"There is a June when Corn is cut" by Emily Dickinson (1955)
This poem, while a part of Dickinson’s 19th-century manuscripts, was not published until 1955 in a collection edited by Thomas H. Johnson. The source cited above, The Emily Dickinson Archive, offers several versions of the poem: 1) Dickinson’s handwritten version, 2) Johnson’s edit of the poem, and 3) Franklin’s edit of the poem.
The “Corn” (Line 1) in this poem informs the metaphoric reading of “corn” (Line 9) in “Fame is a fickle food.” Both poems also explore the ideas of coming second.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson