What does this poem mean by Emily Dickinson?
The Color of the Grave is Green by Emily Dickinson
The Color of the Grave is Green –
The Outer Grave — I mean –
You would not know it from the Field –
Except it own a Stone –
To help the fond — to find it –
Too infinite asleep
To stop and tell them where it is –
But just a Daisy — deep –
The Color of the Grave is white –
The outer Grave — I mean –
You would not know it from the Drifts –
In Winter — till the Sun –
Has furrowed out the Aisles –
Then — higher than the Land
The little Dwelling Houses rise
Where each — has left a friend –
The Color of the Grave within –
The Duplicate — I mean –
Not all the Snows could make it white –
Not all the Summers — Green –
You’ve seen the Color — maybe –
Upon a Bonnet bound –
When that you met it with before –
The Ferret — cannot find —
*If you could just give a short discription of what this poem might mean or knows what it means that would be greatly appreciated(:
In stanza one, Dickinson uses green to recall the life that once was. She then emphasizes that only the outside of the grave is lifelike, although a passerby would not recognize it for a grave except for the headstone.
Stanza two refers to fond as a noun, which means the ground itself, and how the great length of time the earth has been "asleep" would make it impossible to explain to the dirt where the inner grave is. Yet a simple daisy, with roots reaching down far enough, can know the grave’s location.
The third stanza is both a transition of seasons signifying the passage of time and the obliteration of all recognition until the sun appears again (Spring.)
Stanza four notes, through Dickinson’s keen observation, that the first areas of snow melted by Spring sunlight in a graveyard are the aisles between the rows of graves themselves, and the fact that the graves form mounds which the poet refers to as "little Dwelling Houses." Inside each house are the remains of one who once was someone’s friend.
Stanza five at last discusses the coffin, and how it rests so deep (six feet) beneath the surface, where it is green or white depending on the season, that neither color can reach it.
The final stanza is the most difficult, on several levels. First, as bonnets long ago passed out of fashion, most people today do not realize that they were stylish and made of many colors and fabrics, most often bright and happy. Second, the hue suggested by Emily Dickinson in the conclusion of this typical if brilliant and beautiful poem is earthen — the dark browns and grays and even moldy shades found six feet under where caskets lay, and on the clothing and bonnets of mourners. Third, the odd reference to the ferret, an animal known for digging, which even with its prowess cannot penetrate the depths of the grave.
Dickinson’s epitaph, by the way, is "Called Back."
The first stanza she’s saying that the outside of the grave, the part above ground, is green. The only thing that makes the plot of land different from any field is that is has a gravestone.
The gravestone is there to help those who remember find the grave of their loved ones.
In the third stanza she continues, saying the outside of a grave is white in the winter, indistinguishable from all the snow drifts until the sun comes out and reveals the "dwelling houses" aka the gravestones again. Where each has left a friend: the dead bodies.
The last two stanzas are a bit trickier. I think she is saying that the body is either decomposing or already reduced to bones. Nothing could make it green or white like the grass and snow, and you cannot find the color the person once was because they’re not in their bodies any longer.
References :
The poet is rather obsessed with death and actually likes to think and write about it. To her it is just the final stage of life on this Earth.
The grave takes her attention in this poem. She notes the outside of the grave changes in appearance with the seasons….and we realise people also change in such a metaphoric way from the green of youth to the white of old age. Each grave is a house containing a loved one, marked by a head stone and in some seasons a daisy growing in the soil.
She realises the real house containing the loved one is not the grave, as it only holds the earthly remains, it is a duplicate of the House of the Lord. In this real house and resting place the house is indescribable and not bothered by the nasty reality of digging ferrets out to disturb the rest of the dead. The colour of the "duplicate house", the earthly grave, is probably the pale gray pall of the mourners at the graveside. The colour of the immortal house is one we will not know til we too follow the path of the dead.
References :
In stanza one, Dickinson uses green to recall the life that once was. She then emphasizes that only the outside of the grave is lifelike, although a passerby would not recognize it for a grave except for the headstone.
Stanza two refers to fond as a noun, which means the ground itself, and how the great length of time the earth has been "asleep" would make it impossible to explain to the dirt where the inner grave is. Yet a simple daisy, with roots reaching down far enough, can know the grave’s location.
The third stanza is both a transition of seasons signifying the passage of time and the obliteration of all recognition until the sun appears again (Spring.)
Stanza four notes, through Dickinson’s keen observation, that the first areas of snow melted by Spring sunlight in a graveyard are the aisles between the rows of graves themselves, and the fact that the graves form mounds which the poet refers to as "little Dwelling Houses." Inside each house are the remains of one who once was someone’s friend.
Stanza five at last discusses the coffin, and how it rests so deep (six feet) beneath the surface, where it is green or white depending on the season, that neither color can reach it.
The final stanza is the most difficult, on several levels. First, as bonnets long ago passed out of fashion, most people today do not realize that they were stylish and made of many colors and fabrics, most often bright and happy. Second, the hue suggested by Emily Dickinson in the conclusion of this typical if brilliant and beautiful poem is earthen — the dark browns and grays and even moldy shades found six feet under where caskets lay, and on the clothing and bonnets of mourners. Third, the odd reference to the ferret, an animal known for digging, which even with its prowess cannot penetrate the depths of the grave.
Dickinson’s epitaph, by the way, is "Called Back."
References :
My own analysis