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Dickinson's Flowers

Dickinson had a deep love for flowers which is clearly indicated in her poetry, her pressed flower book, and her flower garden. Because she repeatedly uses flowers to represent and interpret such a vast number of subjects, this post will only focus on a few of the ways she uses them.

In many cases, Dickinson uses flowers to simply represent joy and beauty. 

For instance, in "It will be summer – eventually" (F374), the concept of joy is introduced to the reader with scenes of Lilacs that “[represent] the beginning of lasting love in the nineteenth-century floral books” (Farr 204). They are described as being heavy with their “purple load” (Dickinson, line 10), indicating that these flowers are in full bloom. Meanwhile, the Wild Roses, which are traditionally associated with passion, romance, and love, are bringing vibrant color to “redden” (Dickinson, line 13) the Bog, where one would not expect to find beauty. Both of these plants, which bloom in late spring through early summer, have traditional associations with love but Dickinson uses these flowers to stand for more than just love; these flowers provide color to ‘brighten up’ a place that is bland and dark, which indicates that happiness and moments of beauty can be found in the most unlikely of places––even in a Bog.

Another example of flowers showing beauty and joy can be found in "We should not mind so small a flower" (F82), which starts by saying, "We should not mind so small a flower / Except it quiet bring / Our little garden that we lost / Back to the Lawn again" (Dickinson, lines 1-4). Here, Dickinson discusses how a single small flower can bring an entire garden back to life again. The flower is so small, one 'should not mind' or notice it under normal circumstances, but when it grows alone in a dead garden, it means so much more than it would if there were dozens of other flowers there. This can be connected to how a single moment of joy in the midst of struggles or sadness can mean so much more than if there were dozens of 'joys' all around; by the small moment of joy being isolated, the person experiencing that moment will fully appreciate it because it is special.


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Dickinson also inserts flowers imagery in her poetry to show seasons of life and change. 

In fact, in stanza four of "It will be summer – eventually" (F374), she accomplishes this by allowing the floral imagery to slowly change with the mention of Asters and Gentians, which happen to be autumn-blooming flowers. This shift of focus to autumn flora within a poem themed around summer indicates that time is passing and that summer is reaching its end, leading into autumn. The fact that these flowers are mentioned serves as a subtle reminder that even though summer is ending, autumn will have its own kind of pleasures and beauty. 

"When Roses cease to bloom, Sir" (F8) also accomplishes this visual change of seasons, using flowers:

When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,
And Violets are done –
When Bumblebees in solemn flight
Have passed beyond the Sun –
The hand that paused to gather
Opon this Summer's day
Will idle lie – in Auburn –
Then take my flowers – pray!

                                        (Dickinson 22)

Here, it is the end of summer Roses and Violets that signal the end of one season and the beginning of another. These summer flowers will be 'taken' and replaced with the 'Auburn' of autumn. 


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Dickinson even uses flowers to represent herself or a fictional persona. As mentioned in my post about Dickinson's Letters, she often refers to herself as "your Daisy" in her letters addressed to "Master," which causes one to have to read her poems with daisies with a slightly different view.

One of her letter-poems where she calls herself "Daisy" is, "If you saw a bullet / hit a Bird – and he told you / he was'nt shot – you might weep / at his courtesy, but you would / certainly doubt his word – / One drop more from the gash / that stains your Daisy's / bosom – then would you believe?" (qtd. Wineapple 72). After seeing this poem, it is easy to associate Dickinson's use of daisies as a reference to herself or a fictional persona.

Another poem where she does this is "'They have not chosen me' – he said" (F87):

"They have not chosen me" – he said –
"But I have chosen them"!
Brave – Broken hearted statement –
Uttered in Bethleem!

I could not have told it,
But since Jesus dared,
Sovereign, know a Daisy
Thy dishonor shared!

                                    (Dickinson 50-51)

In this poem, Dickinson addresses another popular subject from her poetry––religion––in combination with the 'Daisy.' Lines 1 and 2 contains an aside that is revealed in line 6 to be spoken by Jesus. The connection between Dickinson (or the persona of the poem) is found in stanza two, where the speaker says "I could not have told it, / ... / Sovereign, know a Daisy" (Dickinson, lines 5 and 7). Here, the inclusion of 'Daisy' makes the poem more personal, emphasizing the personal nature in which Jesus knows and chooses people.






















Works Cited:
Farr, Judith, and Louise Carter. The Gardens of Emily Dickinson. Harvard University Press, 
2004.
Dickinson, Emily. The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Edited by Ralph W. Franklin, Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press, 1998.
Wineapple, Brenda. White Heat: the Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Anchor Books, 2009. 
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