"I had a guinea golden" By Emily Dickinson [Analysis]

I had a guinea golden --[1] I lost it in the sand --[2] And tho' the sum was simple[3] And pounds were in the land --[4] Still, had it such a value[5] Unto my frugal eye --[6] That when I could not find it --[7] I sat me down to sigh.[8] I had a crimson Robin --[9] Who sang full many a day[10] But when the woods were painted,[11] He, too, did fly away --[12] Time brought me other Robins --[13] Their ballads were the same --[14] Still, for my missing Troubador[15] I kept the "house at hame."[16] I had a star in heaven --[17] One "Pleiad" was its name --[18] And when I was not heeding,[19] It wandered from the same.[20] And tho' the skies are crowded --[21] And all the night ashine --[22] I do not care about it --[23] Since none of them are mine.[24] My story has a moral --[25] I have a missing friend --[26] "Pleiad" its name, and Robin,[27] And guinea in the sand.[28] And when this mournful ditty[29] Accompanied with tear --[30] Shall meet the eye of traitor[31] In country far from here --[32] Grant that repentance solemn[33] May seize upon his mind --[34] And he no consolation[35] Beneath the sun may find.[36]
Poem 23 [F12] "I had a guinea golden" Analysis by David Preest [Poem]

The meaning of the poem is clear, as Emily herself explains in the last stanza what the poem means, though she might have added a footnote saying that the seven Pleiades make up a constellation of seven stars of which only six are visible to the average naked eye, and that Greek myth consequently portrayed the Pleiades as seven sisters, of whom one, Electra, was lost.

The last stanza also makes it clear that the tone of the poem is tongue-in-cheek and that Emily is teasing her absent friend rather than expressing anguish, but the identity of the 'missing friend' of line 26 is a mystery. It would be tempting to link this poem with poems 5, 14 and 92 which unmistakably refer to Sue, except that the poem makes the person a man and living 'in country far from here,' neither of which are true of Sue. At some time she sent a copy of the poem to Samuel Bowles, and he is perhaps the likeliest missing friend, as he was a frequent traveller and the teasing note is right for him. The lost Pleiad also appears in poem 851.
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