About the Poet
She was born as Emily Elizabeth Dickinson on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S. and died on May 15, 1886, in Amherst.
Only 10 of Emily Dickinson’s nearly 1,800 poems are known to have been published in her lifetime. Devoted to private pursuits, she sent hundreds of poems to friends and correspondents while apparently keeping the greater number to herself.
She was heavily influenced by the Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England, as well as her reading of the Book of Revelation and her upbringing in a Puritan New England town inculcated in her a Calvinist, orthodox, and conservative approach to Christianity.
She was not publicly recognized during her lifetime but gained popularity through her posthumously published poems.
In her poem “A Day”, Dickinson, through the use of brilliant imageries and symbols, describes a beautiful day that leads the children from innocence to experience.
Calvinism: Calvinism is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. It emphasizes the sovereignty of God and the authority of the Bible.
Metaphysical Poetry: The word Metaphysics means “after or behind or among [the study of] the natural”. Topics of metaphysical investigation include existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility. Metaphysical poetry is a group of poems that share common characteristics: they are all highly intellectualized, use rather strange imagery, use frequent paradox, and contain extremely complicated thoughts. The most common themes of metaphysical poems are love/lust, religion, and morality.
Poetic Elements:
Analysis
'A Day' by Emily Dickinson is a well-known metaphysical poem of the nineteenth century, famous for its dual meaning and intellectual metaphors. In a literal sense, ‘A Day‘ describes sunrise and sunset. In a metaphorical sense, it also details the transition from birth to death. Moreover, the poem features a child persona, whose innocence and confident tone reveals the beauty of a sunrise.
Literal Analysis of the poem
I’ll tell you how the Sun rose –
A Ribbon at a time
The speaker of the poem explains the scene of sunrise and tells that on that particular day the sun rose from behind a mountain, throwing its rays like ribbons one by one. He/she looks so confident about this assertion as if he/she knows everything about the sunrise.
The Steeples swam in Amethyst
The news, like Squirrels, ran
As the morning rays hit the sky filled with clouds, it appeared like a purple sea of amethyst, a stone that is used in jewelry. And the towers of the churches appeared floating amid it as if they were swimming. And the rays of the sun spread quickly like the run of squirrels.
The Hills untied their Bonnets
The Bobolinks begun
As the sun went upward, the clouds on the top of hills evaporated and they flew away. To the speaker, it appeared like the hills had untied their hats. As it was morning completely, the Bobolinks birds began to chirp with their melodious sound. The sunshine made everyone happy and comfortable.
Then I said softly to myself
‘That must have been the Sun!’
Watching all this, the speaker told himself/herself that it must have been the sun that led the scenario. But, he/she is not sure about it. It looks like the speaker is a child and explaining the sunrise to other children.
But how he set, I know not.
The speaker has some idea about the sunrise but he/she does not know much about the sunset.
There seemed a purple stile
Which little Yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while
Here, the speaker describes the scenario of sunset. He/she describes the path of the sun as a purple stile, a set of two ladders that is used to climb over a fence or wall. He/she symbolically regards the mountain as a wall and the rays of the sun as little yellow boys and girls. All day the rays along with the sun were climbing up and as they reached the highest position in the sky they started descending.
Till when they reached the other side,
A Dominie in Gray
Put gently up the evening Bars
And led the flock away
When the sun with its rays reached the other side of the mountain, some invisible godly power took the rays like a flock of animals away with him. Just before, he gently put up the bars leaving the world in darkness.
Metaphysical Analysis of the Poem
I’ll tell you how the Sun rose –
A Ribbon at a time
Metaphorically, the speaker of the poem denotes sunrise as the birth of children and tells that children are born one by one on this earth.
The Steeples swam in Amethyst
The news, like Squirrels, ran
Steeples are the towers of churches. Here the imagery of steeples swimming in the sea of amethyst symbolically represents the Christian values floating in the sea of the human psyche of hope and happiness. The newly born children are inculcated with Christian values and religious color (here purple) is painted in the upbringing of those children. This information spreads like the speed of squirrels.
The Hills untied their Bonnets
The Bobolinks begun
This imagery of hills untying their bonnets and bobolinks chirping with melodious sound reflects the beauty and youthfulness of the children.
Then I said softly to myself
‘That must have been the Sun!’
Here the word “sun” represents “life”. The speaker is not clear regarding the meaning of life because of the vague experiences he/she has got.
But how he set, I know not.
Here “sunset'' means “death”, and the speaker has no idea about it.
There seemed a purple stile
Which little Yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while
Purple stile represents the curve (journey) of life from childhood to youthfulness to old age which the children have been traveling all their life.
Till when they reached the other side,
A Dominie in Gray
Put gently up the evening Bars
And led the flock away
When the children reach the other side of life, that is old age, the God of death gently puts a full stop to life and takes all the spirits away with him.
Literary Devices
The following literary devices feature in Dickinson’s ‘A Day’:
Symbolism: The dominant literary device in Dickinson’s ‘A Day‘ remains symbolism. The entire poem symbolizes the transition from life to death. With each stanza, the poet infers the human behaviors associated with life and death, finally implying what awaits after death from her religious perspective. Here the sunrise is a symbol of birth and the sunset for death.
Metaphor: This is the second dominant device in Dickinson’s poem. She uses several direct comparisons to foster relatable imagery. In stanza 1, line 2, she calls sunrays “ribbons”. She refers to the same sun rays as “Yellow boys and girls” in stanza 3, line 3. The “Dominie in gray” in stanza 4, line 2 represents “God” or a religious figure; “flock” refers to humans. Lastly, “evening bars” in stanza 4, line 3 is a metaphor for the end of a day or the end of life.
Simile: An instance of simile appears in stanza 1, line 4, where the “news” of sunrise spreads at the speed of a squirrel’s run.
Personification: This is another poetic device in ‘A Day‘. It appears in stanza 1, line 3, where “Steeples”, like human beings, swim; in stanza 2, line 2, where “hills” remove their “bonnets” in the same fashion as women.
Alliteration: Alliteration appears in stanza 1, line 3, with the repetition of the “s” sound; also in stanza 2, line 2, where the “b” sound is prevalent.
Exercise:
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a. How does the poet describe the morning sun in the first stanza?
Ans: The poet describes the morning sun in the first stanza through an imagery of sunrise. The sun rises in the sky by throwing its rays like ribbons one at a time.
b. What does the line ‘The news like squirrels ran’ mean?
Ans: The line “The news like squirrels ran’ means that the information of sunrise spreads quickly like the running speed of squirrels.
c. What do you understand by the line ‘The hills untied their bonnets’?
Ans: The line “The hills untied their bonnets” means that the mist covering the tip of the hills, that appeared as if they were wearing bonnets, evaporated and disappeared because of the heat of the sun. The whole process appeared as if the hills untied their bonnets.
d. Is the speaker watching the morning sun? Why? Why not?
Ans: No, the speaker is not watching the morning sun rather he/she is narrating the past events regarding the sunrise and sunset. It is because he/she has talked about both sunrise and sunset consecutively and these incidents are impossible to occur at the same moment.
e. How does the sun set?
Ans: Although the speaker claims not to know about the sunset yet he/she explains the scene of sunset. When the sun reaches the other side of its path, that is the west, a domine in gray(a godly figure) appears and he makes the sun set, taking the sun rays away with him.
Reference to the context
a. What, according to the speaker, is a day?
Ans: According to the speaker, a day is a transition from sunrise to sunset. However, he/she describes “a day” as “a life” that is a journey from birth to death in a metaphorical way.
b. What purpose does the hyphen in the first line serve in the poem?
Ans: The purpose of the hyphen (--) in the first stanza is to give a pause letting the readers imagine the scenario of sunrise with profound feeling. It also acts as a bridge that connects the speaker’s announcement of how the sun rose and his/her response that it rose by spreading a ribbon at a time.
c. What makes this poem lyrical and sonorous? Discuss.
Ans: Rhyme, alliteration, and poetic language make this poem lyrical; whereas, simile, metaphors, imageries, personification, and symbols frame it to be sonorous.
Rhyme: The last words of the second and fourth lines of the second, third, and fourth stanza, “begun” and “sun”; “stile” and “while”; and “gray” and “away” rhyme with each other.
Alliteration: “steeples” and “swam” in the third line of the first stanza and “bobolinks” and “begun” in the second line of the second stanza are examples of alliteration.
Symbolism: The dominant literary device in Dickinson’s ‘A Day‘ remains symbolism. The entire poem symbolizes the transition from life to death. With each stanza, the poet infers the human behaviors associated with life and death, finally implying what awaits after death from her religious perspective. Here the sunrise is a symbol of birth and the sunset for death.
Metaphor: This is the second dominant device in Dickinson’s poem. She uses several direct comparisons to foster relatable imagery. In stanza 1, line 2, she calls sunrays “ribbons”. She refers to the same sun rays as “Yellow boys and girls” in stanza 3, line 3. The “Dominie in gray” in stanza 4, line 2 represents “God” or a religious figure; “flock” refers to humans. Lastly, “evening bars'' in stanza 4, line 3 is a metaphor for the end of a day or the end of life.
Simile: An instance of simile appears in stanza 1, line 4, where the “news” of sunrise spreads at the speed of a squirrel’s run.
Personification: This is another poetic device in ‘A Day‘. It appears in stanza 1, line 3, where “Steeples”, like human beings, swim; in stanza 2, line 2, where “hills” remove their “bonnets” in the same fashion as women.
Imageries: The image of a sunrise, steeples floating, yellow children climbing the stile, and a dominie in gray putting up the evening bars are some imageries used in this poem.
d. Who are the target audience of the speaker? Why?
Ans: It is not clear in the poem about the target audience of the speaker, however, we can anticipate that the children are the target audience of the speaker who barely have observed the sunrise and sunset with minute details. The adults too can be the target audience to comprehend the expression of the metaphorical meaning of this poem. The children audience can extract the literal meaning of “a day” out of it, whereas the adult audience can extract the metaphysical meaning of “a life” out of it.
e. The poem seems to describe a day for children. How would the adult people
respond to this poem? Discuss this poem with your parents/guardians and write
the answer based on their responses.
Ans: This poem seems to describe a day for children, however, the adults too would find it amusing. It is because adults can extract the metaphorical meaning of life, that is the transition between birth and death, out of it. For children, it can be about a normal day from sunrise to sunset but for adults, it can be about the amazing beginning of life on earth and its bitter ending. Adults can further analyze this poem to comprehend in depth meaning of it through the imageries and symbols used in it.
Reference beyond the text
a. Observe your surroundings of one fine morning and write a poem based on your own experience.
A Misty Morning
The mist hovering over my mind
Also in the atmosphere, seemed so kind
In an early morning with droplets of dew
In front of me, I could see an amazing view.
Just before the sunrise, o dear
Things were visible but not so clear
But, I could say the sun has risen
By the golden ball stuck in the empyrean.
Within a moment, the mist vanished
Like a bird that is so famished
The bluish sky appeared in the zenith
And the sun kept shining with a yellow wreath
b. Write a personal essay on A Day in the School.
A Day in the College
“Hey! Wake up. It’s time to go to college”, my mother forced me to wake up early in the morning. It was just five in the morning but yet it would take some time for me to be fresh and then be ready for the departure. I did not have to worry about the time because my college was just some walking distance away from the place where I lived, Anamnagar. When I left home, it was already six, however, I did not rush because I was sure I would be there before the required time. At 20 past 6, I met Apekshya at the college gate, who was waiting in the queue to get her things checked. I too joined the line. This is how my day in college often starts.
It was the day of Bhanu Jayanti and Guru Purnima, a day with two auspicious occasions. We had two separate pre-scheduled programmes for the celebration of Guru Purnima and Bhanu Jayanti. For Guru Purnima, we had called for a cultural programme, and for Bhanu Jayanti, a poetry recitation programme was to be held. Apekshya and I had not participated in any of them but we were going to be an active and brilliant audience.
The programmes were supposed to start at 10:00 am and we had classes before that. We could scarcely focus on our studies as our minds were excitedly waiting for the programme. And, that time too arrived.
Some of our colleagues presented their dances, some sang songs, and some recited poems mentioning the valory of our teachers. We even cut a cake for appreciation of all the efforts our teachers had put for our future. Consecutively, the poetry recitation programme too was accomplished.
We went back to our classes because we had to take two more classes before leaving for home. In these classes, our physics and chemistry teachers amazingly taught us with several analogies, examples, and even humor. These classes were interesting and useful. As the last bell rang, I rushed to my home with the speed of a rocket. Home has always been a place of comfort for me, however, I like my college too.
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