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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Dickinson’s poem provides several images or symbols of thriving, vibrant subjects. The speaker describes the “rosy face” flush with life in Line 2. The pink “cheek” (Line 1) could refer to the blossom of a flower or to a young girl or woman in the bloom of life. The “Robins” (Line 6) that appear in the second stanza represent new life and rebirth. However, just as this imagery represents life, birth, and youth, the poem likewise addresses the alternative. Over time, the cheek that is flush with youth will fade, losing its “blush” (Line 3). Robins, the birds that are supposed to sing in new life and youthful energy, are the same birds that act as funeral attendants in the poem. The robins see the wilted flower or the dead body and “cover such with leaves” (Line 7). The beauty of the “cheek” (Line 8) becomes conflated with the “pall” (Line 9), or the funereal covering, so much so that the speaker’s “scrutiny deceives” (Line 10) them, and they cannot differentiate between the two. This conflation between life and death shows how they fade into one another. Life will eventually wane, no matter how big or how small the subject is.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson