A Day | A day Poem Exercise | A day Exercise Solution | Class 12 A Day note

 

•Poem - A Day

                                                                                               Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

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.

 

 

 

•Literal Meaning

 

As per the thoughts of speaker, the sun rose by extending its rays just like ribbon and by making the environment delightful. Also the steeples appeared with the colour of amethyst of which the news made, just spread as fast as the squirrels can run.

 As soon as the sun rose and gave sense of nudge to the hills, the hills took off their bonnets and the sweet and melodious voice of bobolinks made the speaker feel about the sun rise.

                The speaker was unaware about the sun set and there seemed that skies become lighter shade of red as like the faces of children before returning their home.

After sun set, the bonnets again covered the hills, darkness arose again and the parents who were waiting their children closed the gates after the arrival of their children by letting them inside the house.

 

 

•Symbolic Meaning/Theme

Taking the literal meaning beside, the poem depicts the story of birth and death. The rising sun symbolically represents the birth and sun set symbolically represents the death. The day time that comes after sun rise symbolizes the time period where a newborn innocent and immature baby grows into experienced and mature person as the time passes by. We all know how the sun rises i.e. how and where we were born, but the sun set i.e. death is unpredictable. Moreover, we are also known about how our life is going on. On the whole, 'A Day' by Emily Dickinson portrays the transition phase between birth and death, beauty of life and unpredictability of death.

 

 

•Literary Devices used in Poem

 

1) Symbolism: The dominant literary device used in the poem is symbolism. The entire poem portrays the time period from birth to death.

2) Metaphor: This is second dominant literary device used in the poem. In stanza 1, line 2 Dickinson calls sunrays “ribbons". She refers to the same sunrays as "Yellow boys and girls” in stanza 3, line 3. The "Dominie in gray" in stanza 4, line 2 represents God or religious figure or guardian; "flock" represents humans. Also, “evening bars" in stanza 4, line 3 is metaphor for the end of day of life.

3) Simile: It appears in stanza 1, line 4 where the "news" of sunrise spreads at speed of squirrel’s run.

4) Personification: It appears in stanza 1, line 3 where “steeples” like human beings swim; in stanza 2, line 2 where "hills" remove their bonnets" in same fashion as women.

5) Alliteration: It appears in stanza 1, line 3 with repetition of 's’ sound; in stanza 2,line 2 where 'b' sound is prevalent.

 

 

•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

 

 

•Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. How does the poet describe the morning sun in the first stanza?

= In the first stanza, the poet describes the morning sun as delightful beginning of a day and a sign of happiness that brightens the colour of the journey of our life.

 

b. What does the line ‘The news like squirrels ran’ mean?

=The line ‘The news like squirrels ran’ means the speed of the spread of news of sunrise is comparable to the speed of squirrel and also everyone starts accomplishing their task in hurry after sunshine.

 

c. What do you understand by the line ‘The hills untied their bonnets’?

=The line ‘The hills untied their bonnets’ depicts that the pain, sorrows and darkness of hill is no more with the nudge of sun rays.

 

d. Is the speaker watching the morning sun? Why? Why not?

=Looking over the line “I’ll tell you how the sun rose “, it can be concluded that the speaker isn’t watching the morning sun at the moment but the speaker" had witnessed the morning sun earlier.

 

e. How does the sun set?

=The sun sets by taking all the happiness, joy, glow and beauty and leaving the darkness behind but the speaker doesn't know where the sun set.

 

 

•Reference to the context

 

a. What, according to the speaker, is a day?

=The speaker has metaphorically depicted a day as life where birth is sunrise and death is sunset. SO, according to the speaker a day is journey throughout the life that starts with joy and eventually goes to an end.

 

b. What purpose does the hyphen in the first line serve in the poem?

=The hyphen in the first line serves as a medium for taking a pause, longer than commas or semi-colons that leads the readers to imagine or think something after onward.

 

c. What makes this poem lyrical and sonorous? Discuss.

=The poet is able to convey her message in this piece of writing in lyrical and sonorous way. The use sound techniques like alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, assonance and short lines makes this poem lyrical and sonorous.

 

d. Who are the target audience of the speaker? Why?

=The target audience of the speaker are the whole human race and innocent children, which can be known by analyzing the innocence of a child who finds the sunrise as if it was unknown for him/her.

 

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.

=Although the poem seems to describe a day for children, metaphorically it implies the meaning of life from birth to death. So, adult people would respond normally since the targeted audience of this is whole human race.