She went as quiet as the Dew 1
From an Accustomed flower.
Not like the Dew, did she return
At the Accustomed hour!
She dropt as softly as a star 5
From out my summer's Eve－
Less skillful than Le Verriere
It's sorer to believe!
From an Accustomed flower.
Not like the Dew, did she return
At the Accustomed hour!
She dropt as softly as a star 5
From out my summer's Eve－
Less skillful than Le Verriere
It's sorer to believe!
(F.159/J.149)
[1] She:: a dew-snail; snail, a slow or indolent person; a sluggard (OED 2c). Dew:: a hint on dew-snail.
[3, 5] Not, return, dropt:: the snail dropped from a beam.
[4] Accustomed hour:: the usual time that dew appears; and the appearing of Neptune predicted by Le Verrier.
[6] summer:: a beam for supporting. eve:: a hen-roost (OED n.2).
[7] Le Verriere:: Urbain Le Verrier (1811-1877), a nineteenth century French mathematician, who had predicted the discovery of Neptune by calculation. His skill in climbing was bad, supposedly, comparing with a snail.
[7, 8] Less skillful, sorer:: Dickinson was failed to predict the appearing of the dew-snail.
That he could couch a dew-snail's eye
Or shoe a gnat, or geld a fly,
With any Ashton Lever. ─ The Monthly Review (1785)