We never know how high we are

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is the author of “We never know how high we are.” A central figure in American literature, Dickinson wrote around 1,800 poems. Averse to publicity, Dickinson only published around 10 poems during her life. The publication of the remainder of her poems occurred after she died. “We never know how high we are” is one of her many posthumously published poems. Like most of her poems, it didn’t come with a date or a title. Due to the lack of titles, Dickinson scholars use numbers and the poem’s first line to identify them. "We never know how high we are" is the first line of the poem.” One authoritative Dickinson editor, Thomas Johnson, assigned it number 1176. A later Dickinson editor, R. W. Franklin, assigned it number 1197. Scholars believe she wrote “We never know how high we are” around 1870. The poem is a lyric and, since its message is not entirely straightforward, something of a riddle. Dickinson’s unique syntax, subversive style, and ideas about humanity shape the poem, which addresses the potential and limitations of people. “We never know how high we are” is one of her lesser known poems; some of Dickinson’s more famous poems include “Because I could not stop for Death–” (ca 1863) and “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun” (ca 1863).

Poet Biography

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. She had an older brother, Austin, and a younger sister, Lavinia (nicknamed "Vinnie"). According to Cynthia Wolff’s biography Dickinson (1986), Dickinson’s grandfather Samuel Fowler built Amherst’s first brick house. He was also a prominent lawyer and politician who helped found Amherst Academy and Amherst College. Samuel’s son and Dickinson’s father, Edward, was the treasurer of Amherst College from 1835-1837. Edward was also a successful lawyer and politician. Dickinson’s mother, Emily Norcross, was a homemaker who came from a thriving family of farmers.

Dickinson attended two prestigious schools, Amherst Academy and the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. As an adolescent and a young woman, Dickinson maintained an active social life. She liked parties, sleigh rides, and exploring nature, and she entertained a few romantic interests. In Martha Ackerman’s biography about Dickinson, These Fevered Days (2020), Ackerman quotes a letter from Dickinson playfully appraising her appearance. Writing to a friend, Dickinson says, “I am growing handsome very fast indeed [and] expect I shall be the Belle of Amherst when I reach my 17th year.”

After returning from the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, Dickinson became less social. She lived with her parents and wasn’t enthusiastic about meeting people face to face. Dickinson’s ostensible isolation has produced numerous rumors and inaccurate portrayals. Ackerman contests the common depiction of Dickinson as an “eccentric spinster who locked herself away from the world”; through letters, Dickinson stayed closely connected with the world. She had a robust correspondence with Josiah Holland and Samuel Bowels, the editors of The Springfield Republican, the largest newspaper in New England at the time. She exchanged many letters with Thomas Wentworth Higginson who published in The Atlantic Monthly and who led a regiment of Black Union soldiers during the Civil War. Dickinson also shared a deep connection with her sister-in-law (Austin’s wife) Susan Gilbert. Their close bond has led to speculation about Dickinson’s sexual identity. The film Wild Nights with Emily (2018), the TV show Dickinson (2019-2021), and Paul Legault’s English-to-English translations of Dickinson’s poems, The Emily Dickinson Reader (2012), present the relationship as explicitly sexual.

Dickinson never married, and because of her family’s financial situation, she never had to work. Besides writing letters, she wrote around 1,800 poems. She wrote them on envelopes, bills, and scraps of paper. The poems are hard to read and possess neither titles nor dates. She sent some of them to Higginson, who was lukewarm about the style and syntax. To organize them, Dickinson copied several of her poems into homemade books. After Dickinson died in 1886, Vinnie discovered a locked box full of Dickinson’s work. Susan declined to help Vinnie publish the poems. Mabel Loomis Todd — a writer, artist, and scholar who had an extended affair with Austin — eventually transcribed and edited over 600 Dickinson poems.

Like many other editors, Todd tried to make Dickinson’s poems more accessible. She replaced Dickinson’s jarring dashes with commas and standardized her capitalization. However, a thorough and accurate publication of Dickson's work would have to wait until 1955 when Thomas Johnson edited the compendium, numbering Dickinson’s poems based on the order in which he believed she wrote them. He assigned this poem “We never know how high we are” number 1176.

Poem Text

We never know how high we are

 Till we are called to rise;

And then, if we are true to plan,

 Our statures touch the skies —

The Heroism we recite

 Would be a daily thing,

Did not ourselves the Cubits warp

 For fear to be a King —

Dickinson, Emily. “We never know how high we are.” 1870. Poets.org.

Summary

The speaker's first word is the first-person, plural pronoun "we." The speaker speaks for themselves, the reader, and people in general, implying a sentiment that applies to all human beings.

“We never know how high we are,” announces the speaker in Line 1. In other words, we often aren’t aware of how great we can be until a situation develops that pushes us to act bravely and boldly. With these predicaments, people “are called to rise” (Line 2). Special events force us to ascend to a profound level worthy of esteem. If we meet the occasion valiantly, we “are true to plan” (Line 3). Our fate is acclaim and renown; our outstanding reputations create a sense of superiority and singularity and at times, we might feel mightier than others, superhuman, or like our “statures touch the skies—” (Line 4).

In Line 6, the first line of Stanza 2, the speaker names the phenomenon portrayed in Stanza 1; the speaker labels the intrepid conduct "Heroism." People like to talk about heroic conduct, which is why they “recite” it (Line 5). The heroic discourse isn’t ordinary or commonplace. Heroes aren’t a part of everyday life; they’re not “a daily thing” (Line 6).

Heroes don't regularly come about because “the Cubits warp” (Line 7) people. The cubit was a measure of length used in ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, the Bible, and other ancient societies. Depending on the context, a cubit was between 18 and 21 inches. The speaker implies that humans are inherently limited: they are measurable, quantifiable, and reducible to inches. They can’t literally touch the sky because they can’t reach that high.

The poem then suggests that most people don’t want to be heroes anyway, and thus, it’s not a complete negative that “the Cubits warp” them (Line 7) because a lot of humans “fear to be a King” (Line 8). They’d prefer to stay where they are and not take on the pressures that come with being an all-powerful ruler, a divine being, or perhaps a god. They’d rather remain humble and avoid extraordinary expectations. The average person doesn’t mind being twisted and bent by tangible, concrete measurements. To leave behind the empirical human condition can be quite scary, so ultimately, it is fine to lead a down-to-earth, modest life.