--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Which Anguish was the utterest--then-- To…" description: "\"Which Anguish was the utterest--then-- To perish, or to live?\" — Emily Dickinson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/emily-dickinson-310_anguish_which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-p_1435996.jpg" --- # Which Anguish was the utterest--then-- To perish, or to… ![“Which Anguish was the utterest--then-- To perish, or to live?” quote by Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/emily-dickinson-310_anguish_which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-p_1435996.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/emily-dickinson-310_anguish_which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-p_1435996.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/emily-dickinson-310_anguish_which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-p_1435996.jpg) > “Which Anguish was the utterest--then-- To perish, or to live?” [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem juxtaposes the pain of death against the suffering of living, questioning which is the deeper anguish. **In simple terms:** Both death and life bring profound suffering; which is worse? Key Takeaway Reflect on the nature of suffering in life and death. Themes existential philosophical pain mortality choice Mood melancholic contemplative introspective Type poetic philosophical reflective When to use this quote - grief counseling - philosophical debate - personal reflection Key Concepts suffering comparative analysis human condition Questions to Reflect On - Do you fear death more than a painful life? - What gives life meaning despite suffering? A Different Perspective Suffering can be both inevitable and subjective. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anguish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) [Anguish Utterest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish-utterest-5126372/) [Perish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perish/) [Perish Live](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perish-live-5126373/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Utterest Perish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utterest-perish-5126371/) [Worry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worry/) ## Related quotes > [Mirth is the Mail of Anguish --](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/mirth-is-the-mail-of-anguish/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The friend anguish reveals is the slowest forgot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/the-friend-anguish-reveals-is-the-slowest-forgot/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [A wounded deer leaps highest, I've heard the hunter tell; 'Tis but the ecstasy of death, And then the brake is still. The smitten…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-wounded-deer-leaps-highest-i-ve-heard-the-hunter-tell-tis-but-the/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [So proud she was to die It made us all ashamed That what we cherished, so unknown To her desire seemed. So satisfied to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/so-proud-she-was-to-die-it-made-us-all-ashamed-that-what-we-cherished/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [For each ecstatic instant We must an anguish pay In keen and quivering ratio To the ecstasy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/for-each-ecstatic-instant-we-must-an-anguish-pay-in-keen-and/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The main source of psychopathic diseases is the fundamental instinct of fear with its manifestations, the feeling of anxiety, anguish, and worry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-sidis/the-main-source-of-psychopathic-diseases-is-the-fundamental-instinct/) [Boris Sidis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-sidis/) > [Humanity adores only those who cause it to perish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/humanity-adores-only-those-who-cause-it-to-perish/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [A people that does not protect its racial purity will perish!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julius-streicher/a-people-that-does-not-protect-its-racial-purity-will-perish/) [Julius Streicher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julius-streicher/) > [“We perish as a result of our lack of knowledge, not money.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matshona-dhliwayo/we-perish-as-a-result-of-our-lack-of-knowledge-not-money/) [Matshona Dhliwayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matshona-dhliwayo/) > [People perish. Books are immortal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/people-perish-books-are-immortal/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) > [Cherish me before I perish. Because there's no other that will be like act like me and think like me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-matobo/cherish-me-before-i-perish-because-there-s-no-other-that-will-be-like/) [Frank Matobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-matobo/) > [“It was foul, and I loved it. I loved to perish. I loved my own — not that for which I erred, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine-of-hippo/it-was-foul-and-i-loved-it-i-loved-to-perish-i-loved-my-own-not-that/) [Saint Augustine of Hippo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine-of-hippo/) > [“so better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be ingloriously dashed upon the lee,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/so-better-is-it-to-perish-in-that-howling-infinite-than-be/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“We all perish in our last attempt to live.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/we-all-perish-in-our-last-attempt-to-live/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“What makes you cherish is what often makes others perish”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-s-jagadeesh-kumar/what-makes-you-cherish-is-what-often-makes-others-perish/) [P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-s-jagadeesh-kumar/) ## More by Emily Dickinson > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I could not prove the Years had feet-/Yet confident they run.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-could-not-prove-the-years-had-feet-yet-confident-they-run/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [How softly summer shuts, without the creaking of a door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/how-softly-summer-shuts-without-the-creaking-of-a-door/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Could you tell me how to grow--or is it unconveyed--like Melody--or Witchcraft?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/could-you-tell-me-how-to-grow-or-is-it-unconveyed-like-melody-or/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [It might be lonelier Without the Loneliness - I’m so accustomed to my Fate - Perhaps the Other - Peace - Would interrupt the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/it-might-be-lonelier-without-the-loneliness-i-m-so-accustomed-to-my/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Inebriate of Air — am I — And Debauchee of Dew — Reeling — thro endless summer days — From Inns of Molten Blue —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/inebriate-of-air-am-i-and-debauchee-of-dew-reeling-thro-endless/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/luck-is-not-chance-it-s-toil-fortune-s-expensive-smile-is-earned/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The abdication of Belief Makes the Behavior small- Better an ignis fatuus Than no illume at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/the-abdication-of-belief-makes-the-behavior-small-better-an-ignis/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Longing is like a seed that wrestles in the ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/longing-is-like-a-seed-that-wrestles-in-the-ground/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/he-ate-and-drank-the-precious-words-his-spirit-grew-robust-he-knew-no/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I SEE thee better in the dark, I do not need a light. The love of thee a prism be Excelling violet. I see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-see-thee-better-in-the-dark-i-do-not-need-a-light-the-love-of-thee/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [One step at a time is all it takes to get you there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/one-step-at-a-time-is-all-it-takes-to-get-you-there/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Whose fingers string the stalactite- Who counts the Wampum of the night”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/whose-fingers-string-the-stalactite-who-counts-the-wampum-of-the-night/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [My life closed twice before its close](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/my-life-closed-twice-before-its-close/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/until-you-have-loved-you-cannot-become-yourself/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) [Explore all 692 Emily Dickinson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) ## More Anguish quotes > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/being-human-we-would-expel-from-our-lives-physical-pain-and-mental/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-wood/i-saw-my-parents-as-gods-whose-every-wish-must-be-obeyed-or-i-would/) [Natalie Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-wood/) > [Every last cast is actually a first cast. The first cast and first chance to catch the next fish. The next time you anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bishop/every-last-cast-is-actually-a-first-cast-the-first-cast-and-first/) [Tony Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bishop/) > [Journalism is an extraordinary and terrible privilege. Not by chance, if you are aware of it, does it consume you with a hundred feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oriana-fallaci/journalism-is-an-extraordinary-and-terrible-privilege-not-by-chance/) [Oriana Fallaci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oriana-fallaci/) > [I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/i-have-discovered-in-my-long-life-that-there-are-many-words-and/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [So silently, peacefully, without hurry, without any tension, without any anguish, move into yourself instantly. It is urgent. Unless meditation becomes urgent to you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/so-silently-peacefully-without-hurry-without-any-tension-without-any/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-p-bush/it-breaks-my-heart-to-think-about-a-family-weeping-over-the-loss-of-a/) [George P. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-p-bush/) [Browse all 570 Anguish quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Which Anguish was the utterest--then-- To perish, or to live?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Emily Dickinson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-perish-or-to-live/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anguish" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-perish-or-to-live/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/emily-dickinson-310_anguish_which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-p_1435996.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/emily-dickinson-310_anguish_which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-p_1435996.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/91e/emily-dickinson-310_anguish_which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-p_1435996.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Which Anguish was the utterest--then-- To perish, or to live?” — Emily Dickinson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Emily Dickinson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Which Anguish was the utterest--then-- To...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-perish-or-to-live/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/which-anguish-was-the-utterest-then-to-perish-or-to-live/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```