Memory brings back three distinct emotional states for the speaker: hope, fear, and despair. Each attaches itself to a specific physical setting. When hopeful, even a rough west wind felt good, and an inner warmth shielded her from sleet and frost as if hope itself were a garment. When afraid, the sunny world outside turned frozen—icicles on her soul—while a bird sang on, indifferent. The final stanza shifts into despair, where nature itself seems complicit in darkness: after sunset, night will obliterate the face of day, and even nature pauses before the weight of such memory. The mood moves from a quiet, cozy resilience through eerie isolation to a stark, almost cosmic blankness. Dickinson shows how deeply our emotions tint the world we see, and how those moments stay with us, waiting to be relived.
When I hoped, I recollect — Summary
When I hoped, I recollect Just the place I stood -- At a Window facing West -- Roughest Air -- was good --
Not a Sleet could bite me -- Not a frost could cool -- Hope it was that kept me warm -- Not Merino shawl --
When I feared -- I recollect Just the Day it was -- Worlds were lying out to Sun -- Yet how Nature froze --
Icicles upon my soul Prickled Blue and Cool -- Bird went praising everywhere -- Only Me -- was still --
And the Day that I despaired -- This -- if I forget Nature will -- that it be Night After Sun has set -- Darkness intersect her face -- And put out her eye -- Nature hesitate -- before Memory and I --