Legal language
"Defrauded" and "lawful heir" are courtroom terms. Dickinson is framing loss as theft, complete with legal standing.
The dash
Dickinson's signature dash creates a pause—"I" am defrauded OF a butterfly, but the syntax makes you wait to discover what was stolen.
"For thee"
The butterfly was given up for someone else. This is sacrifice language, not simple loss.
Reading Notes
The Butterfly as Property
Dickinson uses legal vocabulary to describe an emotional transaction. "Defrauded" means cheated out of something rightfully yours. "Lawful heir" means you had inheritance rights. She's not just sad—she's claiming she was robbed under law.
The butterfly is "the lawful heir," meaning it should have passed to her by right. But notice: she doesn't say she lost the butterfly. She says she was defrauded of it for thee. Someone else got what should have been hers.
CONTEXT Dickinson often used butterflies as symbols of the soul or of transformation. In her letters, she associated them with resurrection and immortality. Here, being defrauded of a butterfly might mean being denied spiritual transformation or eternal life—and she gave it up for someone else.
Why Repeat the Whole Poem?
Dickinson almost never repeats entire stanzas. When she does, it's structural. The repetition here creates obsessive circling—the speaker can't move past this moment of being defrauded.
Notice what doesn't change between stanzas: no new information, no resolution, no acceptance. The second stanza isn't development; it's re-experiencing. The same loss, stated identically, as if the speaker is stuck in a loop.
The doubling also emphasizes the sacrifice. "For thee" lands twice with full weight. This isn't a casual loss—it's a deliberate choice made for someone specific, and the repetition won't let you forget who benefited from her deprivation.