“Nature is what we see” Summary

“Nature is what we see” Themes

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  Nature vs. Human Understanding

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Nature is what we see”

• Lines 1-3

  "Nature" is what we see—
  The Hill—the Afternoon—
  Squirrel—Eclipse—the Bumble bee—

  

  

  

  

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• Line 4

  Nay—Nature is Heaven—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Nature is what we hear—
  The Bobolink—the Sea—
  Thunder—the Cricket—
  Nay—Nature is Harmony—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  Nature is what we know—
  Yet have no art to say—
  So impotent Our Wisdom is
  To her Simplicity.

  

  

  

  

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“Nature is what we see” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“Nature is what we see” 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.

• Eclipse
• Nay
• Bobolink

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Nature is what we see”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Nature is what we see” Speaker

“Nature is what we see” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Nature is what we see”

More “Nature is what we see” Resources

• External Resources

  • Dickinson's Legacy — Listen to three contemporary writers discussing Dickinson's influence on their work.  

  • Emily Blaster — A video game based on Dickinson's poetry!

  • Dickinson's Rhythms — Check out an informative discussion of Emily Dickinson's distinctive use of meter. 

  • A Manuscript of the Poem — Read the original text in Dickinson's own hand.  

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • 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

  • 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!