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Jul 1, 2016 · Reducing Emily Dickinson’s 1,700+ poems to a list of the ten greatest poems she wrote is not an easy task and is, perhaps, a foolhardy one. Nevertheless, her wonderful Complete Poems (which we’d strongly recommend) runs to nearly 800 pages, so where is the beginner to … well, begin?
Emily Dickinson, renowned for her introspective and poignant poetry, captures the essence of spring in a truly unique and enchanting way. In her verses, she explores the rebirth, hope, and beauty that this season brings.
- A Word Made Flesh Is Seldom (1651) A Word made Flesh is seldom. And tremblingly partook. Nor then perhaps reported. But have I not mistook. Each one of us has tasted.
- Water Makes Many Beds (1428) Water makes many Beds. For those averse to sleep – Its awful chamber open stands – Its Curtains blandly sweep – Abhorrent is the Rest.
- Summer Laid Her Simple Hat (1363) Summer laid her simple Hat. On its boundless Shelf – Unobserved – a Ribbon slipt, Snatch it for yourself. Summer laid her supple Glove.
- As the Starved Maelstrom Laps the Navies (872) As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies. As the Vulture teased. Forces the Broods in lonely Valleys. As the Tiger eased.
Apr 3, 2024 · These 25 Emily Dickinson poems are a drop in the bucket (she wrote almost 1,800 poems ), but these are among the best and show her range, mastery of language, and innovation. Get the full text of each poem as a free printable to use with your students by filling out the form on this page.
- Summary
- Themes
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
- Similar Poetry
‘May-Flower’ by Emily Dickinson is fairly simple poem in which the speakerdescribes the nature of a flower blooming in April and May. In the first part of the poem, the speaker spends the lines describing a flower and what it looks like as it grows to its most beautiful in May. It’s aromatic, pink, low to the ground, and small. She goes in, using p...
Dickinson engages with themes of nature in ‘May-Flower.’ This expands to also touch on humanity’s relationship with nature and time. The natural images she spends time describing in the lines of this poem are all part of the broader expanse of nature, something she says “forswears / Antiquity.” It exists now, for this moment, and then it’s gone. Th...
‘May-Flower’’ by Emily Dickinson is a three-stanza poem that is separated into sets of four lines, known as quatrains. These quatrains almost all follow a pattern of ABCB, with different end sounds. The only exception is stanza one which does not rhyme at all. Lovers of Dickinson’s poetry will note right away that these lines are much shorter than ...
Dickinson makes use of several literary devices in ‘May-Flower.’ These include but are not limited to imagery, alliteration, and enjambment. The first of these, imagery, is a common device used by poets when they create particularly effective descriptions and are able to transport the reader into a particular scene or state of mind. For example, wh...
Stanza One
In the first stanza of ‘May-Flower,’ the speaker begins by describing a “may flower.” Although she doesn’t state it directly, with context clues, such as the title of the poem, it’s obvious that she’s talking about aflower that blooms in spring. It’s “pink, small” and always gloms at the same time of the year. By calling it “punctual,” the poet is using a device known as personification. It can also be seen in the second stanza. She adds that the flower grows low to the ground and is “Aromati...
Stanza Two
In the second stanza, the speaker says that the flower is “Dear to the moss” and “Known to the knoll.” This helps the reader imagine the flower’s environment. It lives amongst other living things in the forest. These things “know” one another and exist in the same ways. In the fourth line of this stanza she adds a twist into the poem. She says that the flower is known to these elements of nature and “In every human soul.” Now, she’s elevating the flower further. It becomes a symbol rather tha...
Stanza Three
In the third stanza of ‘May-Flower,’ the speaker starts to describe the flower again and nature more broadly. The flower is small, but it’s all beautiful and bold. Nature is bedecked by such beauties. It’s made up of tiny different lives, all of which are valuable and beautiful. In the third and fourth lines, the poet’s speaker states that nature “forswears / Antiquity.” This final phrase is more complicated than much of the poem. She describes nature as giving up or swearing off antiquity or...
Readers who enjoyed ‘May-Flower’ should also consider reading some of Emily Dickinson’s other best-known poems. For example: 1. ‘Fame is a Bee’ – is a short poem, but one that taps into Dickinson’s own dislike for fame. 2. ‘Hope is the thing with feathers’– is one of Dickinson’s best-known poems. It uses personification to describe hope as a bird. ...
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Mar 23, 2016 · Winter has its devotees, but there’s something to be said for spring with its new life, warmer weather, and flowers and trees coming into leaf. Here are ten of our favourite poems about spring, which we reckon are among the finest spring poems in the English language. William Wordsworth, ‘Lines Written in Early Spring‘.
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Emily Dickinson was a famous American poet who lived during the 1800s. In addition to writing, she also studied botany, which could have been an influence in her poems about nature. This poem is about the light that illuminates all that's around it during spring.
