A 100: etext transcription

Though this fragment, composed around 1863 (THJ) or 1864 (RWF), is a relatively early text, its connection with a fragment composed in the 1870s argues for its inclusion here. A 100, by itself a brief lyric throe, appears as a trace in two other documents: first, as a variant trace (text altered) in the poem beginning "A Drop fell on the | Apple Tree -" (H 159) and composed around 1863 (THJ) or 1864 (RWF); and second, as a variant (text altered) of another extrageneric fragment(A 313) composed many years later, possibly around 1873 (RWF) or 1874 (THJ), when Dickinson returned to revise "A Drop fell on the | Apple Tree -." The early fragment (A 100) may have catalyzed the composition of the first version of the poem; or, it may have been an early reworking of the last lines of the second stanza. It may also have catalyzed the composition of the later fragment (A 313 / 314), which, composed around 1873 (RWF) or 1874 (THJ), seems to have immediately proceeded the composition of the last extant version of the poem (H 332). Interestingly, the revised version of the poem (H 322) begins with the third stanza of the earlier version and does not include the fragment traces. Such fragments, while belonging to the constellation of texts that includes the poems in which they reappear as traces, may also claim the status of independent or autonomous texts.