The scope of themes in the poetry of Emily Dickinson includes such major topics as religion, love, death, family, and nature. The latter appears to be rather a universal subject matter with the help of which the writer transparently conveys other themes in her works. As it is common in the world of poetry in the period of Romanticism, depiction of nature tends to be one of the dominant features and can be linked to the issue of the human inner world, soul, and relationship. Nature is a huge topic for Emily Dickinson’s writings as well, and such poems as I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose and May-Flower show that it is used not only in its literal sense but also as a representation of deeper concepts of life. Even though it is stereotypically common to imagine nature as a separate world with its own rules of life, Emily Dickinson presents another realm of nature metaphors connected to contrasting themes, namely religion, life, and death in two works of literature, which the current paper is dedicated to. This scientific article explores how the Romantic writer succeeded in delivering the metaphorical message while depicting nature and observes some linguistic features of the poems as well.
Keywords : Emily Dickinson, I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose, May-Flower, Romanticism, nature, poetry.
I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose
I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose , published in 1890, shows readers two most important events of the day — sunrise and sunset. With both of these, nature rises and then slowly goes to sleep, or more symbolically, is born and dies. Using the playful and silly girlish persona, Emily Dickinson skillfully incorporates beautiful metaphors of the Sun and nature in general in the sixteen-line poem. The work can be divided into two equal parts that describe the beginning and the end of the day and life, symbolically, and now it is important to look at what figurative language Emily Dickinson utilizes in order to create drastically different situations.
Firstly, the author describes the sun rays and compares them with ordinary ribbons: “A Ribbon at a time –” (line 2), showing that when the sun starts showing above the hills, it is a slow process with each sun ray appearing above the ground and enlightening the world. In the process of releasing itself, the sun comes to the steeples of the churches (line 3) which are reflected in the water that has become the colour of amethyst due to the sunlight. The implication of religion in this line can be explained by Emily Dickinson’s personal and family eternal faith in God, and overall, by the strong natural connection between God and environment as well. With the sentence “The news, like Squirrels, ran –” (line 4), Emily Dickinson emphasises how fast the awakening of nature is, using direct comparisons with squirrels and compares the sunlight with news spreading around. What is more, Dickinson personifies the hills by stating that the sun opens up the dark spots that the night has left, and now it is time to “untie their Bonnets” and show the world that the morning has come. Then the author describes how bright colours cover the whole area and how birds start their songs to signal the beginning of the day: “The Bobolinks — begun –” (lines 5–6). The pastoral image of nature hints at the woman’s affection for God once again. This metaphor can be interpreted as the birth of a child which is embedded in the image of the sun, and the first half of the poem ends with the positive internal exclamation of the speaker: “’That must have been the Sun’!” , which might symbolically resemble the delivery of the child. Thus, the sunrise can be metaphorically compared to the birth of a new person.
The second part of the literary work allows readers to understand the internal confusion of the speaker due to the lack of knowledge about the sunset, or as it can be symbolically suggested, about the end of life. Nevertheless, the author succeeds in employing an alluring imagery in the lines. Despite the fact that in the second stanza readers can simply watch how some children climb up the hill and the shepherd moves his flock away, Emily Dickinson conveys deep metaphors in this representation of nature. For instance, it might be suggested that this part is about death as the end of the day means the sleep for all natural processes. Moreover, the poem alludes to God as an eternal figure existing in another world. The author incorporates the idea that when people reach the other side, there is only one person waiting for this “flock” to be taken away: “Till when they reached the other side // A Dominie in Gray — // Put gently up the evening Bars — // And led the flock away –” (lines 13–16). This “dominie” can be interpreted as God himself, or death being here, and the colour somehow adds to the atmosphere. However, we can see the very last sentence from the point of view of the simple indication that the sun has set and now the night has reached the surface. Sindi Weriningsih implies the same: “The word marked by thick drifting darkness slowly leaving behind the brightness in the sky” (2021, p. 56). Although this part is not so rich with nature metaphors, compared to the first stanza, the overall use of the imagery of the sunset demonstrates the skillfulness of Emily Dickinson as the poet who can blend the themes of religion and nature as if the topics are inseparable, and incorporate the metaphors perfectly.
May-Flower
The theme of nature is also relevant for Emily Dickinson’s May-Flower , published in 1896. This particular work of Dickinson is worth being studied more closely due to its outstanding linguistic minimalism, short and direct lines that were used successfully to the point of not losing any power or beauty of imagery that is usually and stereotypically awaited from simple and ordinary words. The studied poem tells about a May-Flower in the scene of forest and its connection to the human soul.
The following aspect to analyse is formal data. May-Flower by Emily Dickinson is a poem consisting of three stanzas, four lines in each i. e. quatrains. Almost all of them are written with a rhyme pattern ABCB. For example, “Moss” — A, “Knoll” — B, “Robin” — C, “Soul” — again B. However, the very first stanza appears to be an exception as lines do not rhyme at all. Dickinson is known for experiments in metre, as Cristanne Miller mentions in Reading in Time: Emily Dickinson and the Nineteenth Century (2012), since the poet was not exact and strict with syllables and rhyme. This imperfect rhyme is called “slant rhyme” ( Emily Dickinson Museum ). Thus, the rhyme of the first stanza of May-Flower can be described as slant and varying from line to line with four and six syllables. This is rather short and not overloading which allows a reader to give an elevated importance and attention to each not even line but word. Speaking of literary devices, one can track the usage of the most obvious as alliteration and enjambment . Alliteration examples can be met in lines three and four of the stanza one ( “Covert”, “Candid” ) or in line two of the second stanza ( “Known”, “knoll” ). There is a cutting off a line before a logical and natural stop as well. For example, between the third and the fourth of the middle stanza
“Next to the robin
In every human soul”
and of the last stanza
“Nature forswears
Antiquity” (Dickinson, lines 7–8, lines 11–12, 1896).
Nevertheless, it is not a limit in literary devices used by Dickinson as the poet applied one more tool that is going to present special interest in the context of nature themes. This is imagery that allows to immerse a reader in the created environment of the poem. This is demonstrated by the usage of adjectives like “aromatic”, “moss”, “small” and everything that lets a reader imagine nature.
Moving on to the close reading of the poem, each stanza is going to be analysed one by one. The very first line consists of three adjectives and three dashes “Pink ― small ― and punctual ― ”
(ibid., 1 line, 1896). This opening line gives basic features of the plant that is going to be “the main hero”, still simple, direct, vivid and impressive. The second line reaches the same goal in order to represent the flower as much as it is possible. The next two lines explain why Dickinson chooses “punctual” for the flower — the plant starts to bloom in April and is at its peak in May (ibid., 1896). What is also interesting in usage of this particular adjective is that this is a device of personification . It is rather common to say that a human can be punctual, but a poet states the same for a plant that is considered to be inanimate which shows the first hint that nature might be alive the same as a man. In the second stanza, on the one hand, it is shown that the flower, let it be said, lives in harmony and balance with nature around. On the other hand, it is not only about plants that just exist near to the May-flower. All these plants are described as neighbours and it is easily seen due to linguistic choice in three lines: “dear”, “known”, “next” (ibid, 1896). The same can be applied in description of people living on the one floor in everyday life. There is a personification again. In addition to that, if the usage of the word “Soul” with a capital letter is understandable, then “Robin”, “Moss” and “Knoll” might be confusing. A reader can make a suggestion that this is an association with people’s names that are written in the same way and some kind of expression of respect. This, one more time, motivates a reader to consider and imagine nature as something alive and being on the same level as the everyday world. The last line of the second stanza almost directly states the connection of the May-flower with a human and his or her soul and hints to be treated in the same way and actually to be in one line, not separately. However, it is much better to say that that “Soul” can be on the same level with listed natural objects. The last stanza starts with a new address to the May-flower. “Beauty” highlights the appearance of the plant and allows to suggest even its sex which might be female. In the same line, there is a contrast of contextual antonyms placed together, “bold” and “little” (ibid, 1896). This creates one more interpretation of the plant’s face — the flower is just a tiny and fragile part of nature but still brave and not afraid of being a neighbour with “Moss” or “Knoll” that must be bigger in size, because they live in harmony with those. At this point, the same can be applied to a human — bigger than the flower and requires to be brave in order to meet. The last three lines might mean that even such a tiny and fragile beauty is a big value for nature and by this and its punctuality can deny such a thing as getting older -
“Nature forswears ―
Antiquity ―”
(ibid, lines 11–12, 1896). The thing that is inherent in human life and all that is artificially created.
Conclusion
I’ll Tell You How The Sun Rose exhibited many disguised metaphors and references to nature and religion blended into it. Emily Dickinson scrutinises imagery to display beautiful pictures of sunrise and sunset, creates an ambience that allows to literally breathe fresh air in the morning and then peacefully go to sleep after a long day. Silly and playful tone of the poem adds to the linguistic mastery of the writer and serves as a means to deliver the picture of calmness as well. Contrastingly, the second work analysed in the current paper, May-Flower , is the poem with outstanding linguistic minimalism. The lines are short and direct, but the author filled them with literary devices and successfully constructed the connection between nature and human inner worlds. Predominantly, this goal is achieved due to the usage of personification. The same volume of importance is in the usage of imagery that allows a reader to immerse into the world created by the author and become its part.
References:
- Miller, Cristanne. Reading in Time: Emily Dickinson in the Nineteenth Century. University of Massachusetts Press, 2012.
- «Major Characteristics of Dickinson's Poetry». Emily Dickinson Museum, https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emily-dickinson/poetry/tips-for-reading/major-characteristics-of-dickinsons-poetry/.
- Werdiningsih, Sidni. An Analysis of Figurative Language on Emily Dickinson’s Poem Entitled “I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose’. English Education Department, 2021.
- Dickinson, Emily. I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose, 1890.
- Dickinson, Emily. May-Flower, 1896.
