For my two words, I chose “menaces” and “amethyst” from the second version of Dickinson’s poem. I chose them for two reasons: their physical position relative to each other in the poem’s manuscript and the positions each word takes in the interpretive meaning of the poem (a meaning which I am still not completely sure of myself). In examining Dickinson’s manuscript sent to Mabel Todd, one can see that ‘menaces’ and ‘amethyst’ line up perfectly. This is in direct contrast to the published version, in which the two words take up space in the same line as ‘menaces of amethyst.’ This published version, however, leaves much less emphasis on the assonance between the two words. When included together in the same line, they flow together smoothly, but they do so in a way that simply washes over the reader, who can glance over them without much of a second thought. In Dickinson’s original manuscript, on the other hand, the very syllables of the two words line up perfectly: Me na ces lines up directly with Am e thyst. This works to even further draw the reader’s attention to the assonance between both words, and thus to the relationship they have in the poem. At first read, ‘menaces’ and ‘amethyst’ don’t seem to have much in common: Menaces being frightening threats/dangers and amethyst being a milky purple stone whose color begs you to fall into it (in some schools of belief, amethyst is even known to ease emotional distress and promote calm, which is the very opposite of what a menace would do). In the manuscript version of Dickinson’s poem, however, the literal parallels of the two words hints at an interpretive parallel to be made as well. If one takes the alignment of the two words to be significant, one can then look to substantiate ways in which the two words go beyond their initial contrast. For me, menaces of amethyst then goes from being a seemingly nonsensical phrase (how can amethyst be menacing?) to one that evokes the mystery and uncertainty that comes with the sunset. As the sun sinks lower and the sky gets darker, the bright hues of the sunset become a deep purple. It becomes like an amethyst. Thus, the menaces of amethyst are the somewhat frightening truths that only come out at dusk and at dark, and it is the sunset at this crucial point of transition that enhances and reveals that which we might not otherwise see fully.