Class: 12 Unit 2 Chapter: 1 (Poems)
Poem Title: A Day
Poet: Emily Dickinson
About the poet:
One of the most eminent American poets from the nineteenth century, Emily Dickinson's (1830-1886) poetry 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. These upbringings
inculcated in her Calvinist, orthodox, and conservative approach to Christianity. Dickinson and Walt Whitman are considered the founders of a uniquely American poetic voice. While Dickinson
was extremely prolific as a poet her regularly enclosed poems in letters to friends she was not publicly recognized during her lifetime. However, she has
been steadily gaining popularity through her posthumously published poems.
About the poem:
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.
A Day
I'll tell you how the sun rose, __
A ribbon at a time.
The steeples swam in amethyst,
The news like squirrels ran.
The hills untied their bonnets,
The bobolinks begun.
Then I said softly to myself,
"That must have been the sun!"
But how he set, I know not.
There seemed a purple stile
Which little yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while
Till when they reached the other side,
A dominie in gray
Put gently up the evening bars,
And led the flock away.
- Emily Dickinson
Glossary
steeples (n.): tall towers with a spire on top, rising above the roof of a church
amethyst (n.): purple precious stone used in making jewellery
bonnets (n.): hats tied with strings under the chin, worn by babies and women
bobolinks (n.): songbirds with large, somewhat flat heads, short necks and short tails
dominie (n): a school master (Scottish): a pastor or clergyman (US)
stile (n.): a set of steps that help people to climb over a fence or wall, especially in the
village
Answer the following questions.
a. How does the poet describe the morning sun in the first stanza?
Ans. The poet describes the rising of the sun as a gradual process and its ray appeared in what seemed to look like bands or ribbons, the steeples were covered or dunked in sunlight and the news that the sun had risen spread very fast.
b. What does the line 'The news like squirrels ran' mean?
Ans. The line "The news like squirrels ran" in the first stanza means that the news of the rising of the sun along with the casting of rays spreads as fast as squirrels run. The news of the arrival of the sun in the horizon is compared with the quick running of the squirrels using the word "like".
c. What do you understand by the line 'The hills untied their bonnets'?
Ans. Before the sun rises, the hills are sunk in the bonnet of darkness, cloud or snow. After the sun rises all the hills look beautiful. The hills remove their bonnets when the first beam of rays touch them.
d. Is the speaker watching the morning sun? Why? Why not?
Ans. Yes, the speaker is watching the rising sun. The speaker is observing the change in colour of the steeple into Amethyst, untied bonnets of the hills are listening to the singing of the beautiful bobolinks and all these events confirm that the speaker is watching the morning sun.
e. How does the sun set?
Ans. The speaker tells of the purpling of the sky as the sun sets until the sky tourns completely dark. But she doesn't know what happens after it because of the lack of knowledge about the sun set.
a. What, according to the speaker, is a day?
Ans. According to the speaker, a day is a duration between the sun rises to sunset when the sun rises, the hills seem to remove their bonnets, and bobolink sings. The rays fall in beams and light up the place. Everyone talks about the sunrise. When the sun sets, the children who were out to play go over the hill and seem to disappear as they go home. The sky gets purple and turns completely dark. The themes in this poem are like the binaries of sunrise and the sunsets. Both depict life and death. The day represents the circle of life.
b. What purpose does the hyphen in the first line serve in the poem?
Ans. A hyphen (is a punctuation mark used in writings to join works or parts of words. In poetry, a hyphen is used to show pauses, a longer one than commas or semi-colons. Emily Dickenson uses punctuation marks in her poem in an innovative way. She uses hyphens if she doesn't find the suitable words to express deep emotions, to granting readers to imagine and complete the missing words and to show the power of silence in front of certain situations. It is also used to give a sudden emphasis.
c. What makes this poem lyrical and sonorous? Discuss.
Ans. The poem "A Day" by Emily Dickenson is both a lyrical and sonorous poem. A lyrical poem is a poem in which the poet either expresses his feelings or emotions. The poet also presents a character in the first person to express his emotion. Here, the first person pronoun 'I' is used in the lyrical poem. In this short poem, the poetess is expressing her personal experience of observing sunrise. Sonorous means capable of giving out a deep, resonant sound, and rich in language. Several things make a poem musical and melodious. Sound devices like alliteration, assonance, rhyme and rhythm make a poem musical.
d. Who are the target audience of the speaker? Why?
Ans. In the poem "A Day' the world is seen .through the eyes of an innocent child. It looks beautiful and miraculous but mysterious at the end. The speaker is narrating the sunrise as the first line says "I'll tell you how the sun rose". From this perspective, we can say that the target audiences are those fellow children who have missed observing this beautiful sunrise as they awake late in the morning. When we analyze the poem philosophically, the entire humankind is also the target audience. The beautiful sunrise indicates the beginning of life, the activities of the entire day is a journey of life and the setting of sin is death.
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. the poem "A Day" describes the sunrise, phenomena after sunrise and sunset. But in the philosophical sense, the poem talks about the transition from life to death. The poem tells us about the excitement from the beginning of life and squirrel running like life and the mysterious ending of a life.
Reference beyond the text
a. Observe your surroundings of one fine morning and write a poem based on your own experience.
Ans. Write a poem yourself according to the question. Here is the poem by Victoria Black on surrounding for better understanding.
My Surroundings
I look at my surroundings,
The paintings and pictures,
Some are good some are bad,
Some are happy and some are sad,
They are doing sports or dancing,
Other are kissing or singing
I wish I could be one of those happy people again,
Singing and dancing every day,
But I find myself depressed and deceived,
I long to have a perfect life.
But find myself empty-handed,
The only happiness I receive is from my only love,
The rest is all just a grieve,
But I never get to see him,
So I will always be deceived and grieving for the.rest of eternity.
I will always have problems of my own that no one will ask about,
I will always be my best friends shadow,
No one will notice my leave,
They'll all carry on without my heave.
- Victoria Black
b. Write a personal essay on 'A Day in the School'.
Ans. School life is the golden period of man's life. It is the period of learning manners and forming habits. It is the period of enjoying and merrymaking with friends and classmates. I am a student of twelve classes in a reputed school in Kathmandu. The time flees very soon in studies and plays at school. It makes such life as is never available afterwards. A day at my school is like a chain of works and enjoyment. My school starts at 9.30 am. I always teach the school on time. The first bell is the bell of prayer. All the students stand in the queue of their respective classes. Everyone puts on the same uniform. At the world of command P.T., every student acts as a machine. The defaulters and latecomers have to stand in a separate line. The prayer starts with some activities and ends with the national anthem.
After the prayer time is over, the vice-principal of our school reads out some very important current news for us. Some of the other necessary announcements are also made. After this, the students go to their classes in queues: The defaulters and late comes are held up. They are warned and some of them are even punished for disobeying the rules and regulations.
The duration of every period is 45 minutes. We enjoy the class. As soon as the bell for the recess goes, the students rush out quickly. Most of them run towards the canteen to have some refreshment, tea etc. They sit in the grassy flavours to eat. They talk and laugh at certain points and incidents of the classroom, films and matches. After the break, we have other classes. In this way, the time is not wasted but utilized.
With the ringing of the bell, all of us leave the school without satchels and bags. The school presents a noisy atmosphere for a short while. It almost becomes deserted and silent as soon as the students go out of the main entrance to their houses.
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