“A Light exists in Spring” Introduction

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“A Light exists in Spring” Summary

“A Light exists in Spring” Themes

• 

  The Limits of Human Perception

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• 

  Scientific Explanation vs. Lived Experience

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• 

  Spirituality vs. Everyday Life

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Light exists in Spring”

• Lines 1-4

  A Light exists in Spring
  Not present on the Year
  At any other period—
  When March is scarcely here

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  A Color stands abroad
  On Solitary Fields
  That Science cannot overtake
  But Human Nature feels.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  It waits upon the Lawn,
  It shows the furthest Tree
  Upon the furthest Slope you know
  It almost speaks to you.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Then as Horizons step
  Or Noons report away
  Without the Formula of sound
  It passes and we stay—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  A quality of loss
  Affecting our Content
  As Trade had suddenly encroached
  Upon a Sacrament.

  

  

  

  

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“A Light exists in Spring” Symbols

• 

  The Spring Light

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“A Light exists in Spring” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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“A Light exists in Spring” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Scarcely
• Abroad
• Overtake
• Slope
• Report away
• Formula of sound
• Affecting
• Content
• Encroach
• Sacrament

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Light exists in Spring”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“A Light exists in Spring” Speaker

“A Light exists in Spring” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “A Light exists in Spring”

More “A Light exists in Spring” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Out Loud — A dramatic recital of "A Light exists in Spring."

  • Dickinson's Spiritual Life — Read an essay explorig Dickinson's relationship to religion and spirituality. 

  • The Poem Set to Music — Listen to a duet that captures the poem's intense, eerie atmosphere.

  • Dickinson's Biography — Head over to the Poetry Foundation to learn more about Dickinson's life and work.

  • "How Emily Dickinson Grew Her Genius in Her Family’s Backyard" — This Slate article discusses the ways Dickinson's fascination with nature fueled her poetry. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!