Emily Dickinson

A Prayer

I MEANT to have but modest needs,
Such as content, and heaven;
Within my income these could lie,

Accounting metaphor

"Keep even" = balance the books. She's treating spiritual needs like a household budget—content and heaven as line items.

And life and I keep even.
But since the last included both,
It would suffice my prayer
But just for one to stipulate,

Logical bargain

"Stipulate" is legal language. She's negotiating contract terms with God—ask for heaven, get content thrown in free.

And grace would grant the pair.
And so, upon this wise I prayed,—
Great Spirit, give to me

Heaven's size

The modest request—a personal heaven, not the cosmic one—is what makes them laugh. She's asking for the discount version.

A heaven not so large as yours,
But large enough for me.
A smile suffused Jehovah's face;
The cherubim withdrew;
Grave saints stole out to look at me,
And showed their dimples, too.

God laughs

"Suffused" = spread across. Even the grave saints show dimples. The whole celestial court finds her prayer funny.

I left the place with all my might,—
My prayer away I threw;
The quiet ages picked it up,
And Judgment twinkled, too,
That one so honest be extant
As take the tale for true

Gospel promise

Matthew 7:7—"Ask, and it shall be given you." She took the Bible literally and feels conned when heaven laughs.

That "Whatsoever you shall ask,
Itself be given you."
But I, grown shrewder, scan the skies
With a suspicious air,—
As children, swindled for the first,

Child logic

A child swindled once assumes all adults are liars. She's applying this same logic to God and scripture.

All swindlers be, infer.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Joke's On Her

Dickinson structures this as a conversion narrative in reverse—instead of gaining faith, she loses it. The poem moves from innocent prayer (stanzas 1-3) to cosmic humiliation (stanzas 4-5) to bitter wisdom (stanzas 6-7).

The comedy happens in stanzas 4-5. Her modest, reasonable prayer—asking for a personal-sized heaven—makes Jehovah smile. Then the cherubim back away (to get a better view of the spectacle), and even the "grave saints" sneak out to see the naive mortal who took scripture literally. The word "dimples" is devastating—these aren't polite smiles but suppressed giggles.

She flees ("with all my might") and throws her prayer away, but it becomes evidence against her. The "quiet ages" preserve it, and even abstract Judgment twinkles—the cosmic legal system finds her gullibility amusing. The word "extant" (still existing) suggests she's a rare specimen: someone honest enough to believe the Bible means what it says.

Dickinson's Accounting God

The opening stanza uses commercial language: "income," "keep even," "suffice." Dickinson treats salvation like household economics—she wants to live within her spiritual means. This isn't humility; it's practical budgeting.

The logical trick in stanza 2 shows her trying to game the system. Since heaven includes contentment, she only needs to "stipulate" (legal term) one item and get both. She thinks she's found a loophole in God's contract.

The final stanza's "swindled" metaphor is brutal. She compares her religious experience to a child's first encounter with fraud—and draws the child's conclusion: if one adult lies, they all do. The word "infer" (draw a logical conclusion) suggests this isn't emotional disappointment but rational deduction. She's not angry at God; she's adjusted her epistemology. Now she "scans the skies / With a suspicious air"—watching for the next con.