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Emily Dickinson

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I think that what I love the most about Dickinson's poem is that it is, in its entirety, metaphorical. I mean, the poem could also be specifically about making an actual prairie, but to me, it is metaphorical.

I praise Dickinson for writing such a simple thing with so much meaning behind it. I also love how even though it is completely metaphorical it is not hard to understand its meaning. It is not one of those poems that one has to analyze for hours (don't get me wrong, I love those too), but reading this poem once or twice is enough to embrace its powerful message.

I also love how the meaning one gives to the poem is fully up to every person's interpretation and can be related to many different situations. For me when I first read it, it inspired me because I wanted to create so many experiences in college, I wanted to grow an academic prairie, a social prairie, and a mindfulness prairie. However, it can be applied to any other aspiration one may have. Any given moment where obstacles are on the way, one may think of revery, and how as she puts it, "the revery alone will do". Any one thing you want to achieve is possible until you lose the desire to achieve it.

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The first detail I noticed when I read this poem is that in the first line Dickinson says "a clover and one bee" and in the second she says "one clover, and a bee". I love how she switches the "one" and the "a". I don't know if this has any specific purpose, but it called my attention and I believe it is very clever. It could also be that she wanted to put emphasis on the fact that you need a single clover and a single bee, not more.

I also love how she chose the creation of a prairie as her metaphor. She could have literally picked anything else, but she picked a prairie maybe because it creates an image of a beautiful, natural and maybe even simple thing.

I also believe that the way she spaces the lines are very important. She writes the line "And revery" by itself, to make emphasis on the theme, on how revery alone will do. She could have done the same with "a clover and one bee" but she decides not to, to visually highlight how "revery alone will do."

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Simplicity//Tone                //Imagery

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Simplicity//Tone                //Imagery

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I think that the short lines, the simplicity of the way she writes the poem, make me feel, at first, as if Dickinson is writing a recipe, a list of materials. The way she mentions the clover and the bee is very explicit, dry, matter-of-factly.

However, in spite of the dryness of the lines themselves, I believe that the overall tone of the poem is very affectionate, encouraging. I believe she achieves this by including the revery, a feeling, a word that describes an abstract state, into her list of ingredients. She creates a sort of juxtaposition by using imagery for the clover, the bee and the prairie, and then figuratively including the revery.

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This is probably my favorite poem, not only because I believe that with its simplicity it says so much, but also because I have a personal connection to it.

I was first introduced to Dickinson's poem by my best friend on the day I was going away to college. She came over to my house and as we were crying, saying our goodbyes right before I left for the airport, she said she had a gift for me. She gave me a journal, empty, except for the first two pages. In the first page she wrote "For you to write about your prairie", and on the second page she had written down Dickinson's poem. The picture I have uploaded of the poem is one I took of the actual page of the journal.

I believe that this poem can have many meanings. Overall, for me, the poem communicates that in different situations in life we will be given different tools to achieve what we aspire. However, Dickinson emphasizes that the tools we need are few, and if we don't have them, all we need to have is a dream, an aspiration (revery).

For me, personally, in a time when I was leaving my home for the first time to a foreign country, where what was spoken was a language I wasn't used to speaking every day, with people I had never met in my life, in a time when I was basically diving deep into the unknown, with no certainties other than my dreams, aspirations and expectations, this poem gave me a sense of security. It made me understand that I was leaving my comfort zone to pursue an amazing opportunity, and if for any reason I felt like I wasn't achieving what I wanted, that just having those aspirations, those dreams, those motivations, would be enough, because I had something to work towards to.

I also believe that this poem can be seen as a stand against falling into monotony or numbness. In any given situation, things do get easier when we get the tools we need to "thrive", such as a clover and a bee, and the revery if we wanted to create a prairie. However, without the revery, one falls into numbness, into monotony. One needs to be excited about something, dream about something, even if it is not close to happening, because, what is the point of living a life without things to look forward too? There is no point in making a prairie if you don't really want to make one.

This is my interpretation of the poem, and I know that it has a personal story behind it, so I was wondering if you guys interpret it the same way, or does it speak to you differently?

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Revery (as stated in the dictionary) vs. Dickinson

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Revery (as stated in the dictionary) vs. Dickinson

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noun. a state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing: lost in reverie. a daydream. a fantastic, visionary, or impractical idea: reveries that will never come to fruition.

-> I think it's interesting to consider whether or not Dickinson cared about the actual definition of revery as its generally accepted to us, or if in writing this poem, she sought to rewrite the meaning? In her mind, revery must really be a prarie -- an infinite field for our dreams to grow.