Spring Forward

Poem 214 Page 281



The human speaker, who never identifies themselves, is not the important part of this poem. The true speaker of this poem is in Mother Nature herself. Dickinson lovingly describes nature as the speaker, "or noons report away." This is not the only point in the poem where nature, or something of god is speaking. The lack of consistent rhyme in this poem gives it a free feel, but the opening stanzas has a distant and melancholy feel. The use of words like, "scarcely" and "solitary" hint at this feel.

The use of personification gives Mother Nature life through spring. Dickinson uses words like "reports", "waits", "speaks" and "passes" to make spring come to life. This personification makes it easier to connect spring with youth. Wholly Dickinson is showing that youth must follow nature in its changing. "It passes, and we stay-" is telling us that youth, like the seasons will pass but who we are will remain, merely altered.

I am a huge fan of Emily Dickinson, and this poem is one of my favorites. My favorite lines are "That science cannot overtake / But human nature feels" and this is because I feel a very close connection to nature, and am not a 2+2=4 kind of person, as Mr. Ripley would say. There are just somethings in life that one feels that science will never capture. Youth is one of those things.