“If you were coming in the Fall” is a poem that sets up a feeling and then undermines it, similar to how a sonnet uses a volta, or turn, to illustrate the complexity and contradictory nature of things. In this case, the feeling the poem undermines is longing. The first four stanzas establish the speaker’s longing for their lover, and through these metaphors, Dickinson romanticizes the image of the waiting lover, making it seem like love is strong enough to conquer all things including time. This follows the cliché image of the woman who waits for her lover to return to her (usually from war or from the seas). However, as the poem progresses, Dickinson injects doubt. As the speaker explores the fantasy of their love conquering time, reality slowly creeps in until, at the end of the poem, it takes over the fantasy they started with, leaving them in a perpetual state of heartache.

In a way, the progression of this shift from fantasy to reality plays on the romantic nature of love poetry. Dickinson does this by using an escalating scale of time, starting with small chunks and lengthening the time with each stanza.