One of the many brief extrageneric texts found among her late papers after her death, Dickinson's final intentions toward this fragment remain unknown. It may have been destined for incorporation into a poem, a letter, or another composition. In its present form, it appears to be a list of variant (or additional) word choices, perhaps for a poem-draft since lost, destroyed, or beyond positive identification. The variant, "by duller," for "to duller," appears to have occurred to Dickinson during the initial drive of composition.