A 876: etext transcription

The relationship between the fragments on the opposite sides of the manuscript is ambiguous; tears along the top and bottom edges of the manuscript have created textual gaps that cannot be bridged. The fragments may be passages from a single, though incomplete, composition; unrelated passages, each destined for incorporation into a different composition; or discrete texts. If the passages are part of the same text, as the uniformity of the handwriting across the manuscript suggests, it is possible that Dickinson used A 876a as a space of revision—a space to sketch out a series of alternate openings or closings for the fragment on A 876. Indeed, the first eight lines of the text on A 876a may be variants for lines 6–14 of the text on A 876. The final (incomplete) lines of the text on A 876a, however, seem more personal; they may be notes for another text, either never composed or lost. Though there are no local cancelations in the text on A 876a, Dickinson drew six intersecting lines through it, further suggesting that this side of the manuscript was a scene of exploration and revision, canceled when she decided to let the text on A 876 stand as it appears. Here again Dickinson revised the text as she wrote, canceling the word "and" and inscribing the variant "but" above it and, on the next line, striking out "it." She wrote in the same direction as the red rule but without regard for its boundaries.