To the Moon and Stars: On the Writing of Emily Dickinson

by Courtney Dekanich, sophomore English major at Silver Lake College

When the beginning of the semester was still approaching, I looked back over the list of classes I had signed up to take and couldn’t help but wonder at my choice to take a course on Emily Dickinson. I knew that Dickinson had been extremely important in the world of writing, that her work, once published, had had a great deal of influence, but I had never really experienced her work. As such, my expectations were built upon the commentary on Dickinson’s work that I had heard from others who weren’t exactly fans. I cracked open my book of Dickinson’s poems for the first time expecting a volume of flowery nineteenth century poems that would be just a tad bit too sweet for me.

Instead, I found something rather different.

I found depth and ambiguity. I found hope and longing.

Occasionally, I’ve found a modicum of meaning while reading through her poems, but part of the genius of Dickinson’s work is found in the fact that, while each word was undoubtedly chosen carefully, a set meaning in mind, possibilities in terms of interpretation now are rather great in number. So, while there is undoubtedly a message found in each of Dickinson’s poems, sometimes it’s not quite certain, more fluid than solid.

This is due, in part, to Dickinson’s use of symbolism. Among her most used symbols are flowers and bees. While they pop up so often that they are undoubtedly significant, the differing contexts of the numerous poems they appear in makes pinning down meaning a bit more tricky. So, while a bee in one poem may be a symbol of the transition between life and death, it may have altered meaning in the next poem in which it has a cameo. Flowers, in Dickinson’s work, are even more ambiguous; roses are presented differently from crocuses and daisies, buttercups are different from daffodils and morning glories, and all of them differ slightly from poem to poem while still, somehow, managing to hold on to a small kernel of constancy.

Another element present in some of Dickinson’s poems is the idea of beauty in simplicity. While I have, over the course of the semester so far, worked my way through a good number of Dickinson’s poems – enough to make it difficult to choose any single piece as a favorite – there are a few which have stood out. Among them is a poem in which Dickinson seems to speak to the moon and stars.

Ah, Moon – and Star!

You are very far –

But – were no one farther than you –

Do you think I’d stop for a firmament –

Or a cubit – or so?

I could borrow a Bonnet – of the Lark –

And a Chamois’ silver boot –

And a stirrup of an Antelope –

And leap to you – tonight!

But – Moon – and Star –

Though you’re very far –

There is one – farther than you –

He – is more than a firmament – from me –

And I cannot go!

This poem, a conversation with the moon and stars about distance, about the impossible distance between narrator and the unnamed “He,” stood out to me as a prime example of Dickinson’s power of simplicity. The poem, only three stanzas long and beginning with a rather simple rhyme, conveys all of the pain of longing across an indescribable distance. Dickinson describes the distance and the things which she would need to cross it in rather simple terms, putting forth the idea that – had she the means to reach the one who was farther from her than the moon and stars – she would. While a rather seemingly straightforward poem, the emotion it holds in its few short stanzas is rather profound, a testament to Dickinson’s way with words. And, while the poem may, at first, seem rather simple, there is the question of who is the “He” of which she speaks; is it God, is it some other who she longs to see, to be with?

It’s questions like this which are frequently generated by Dickinson’s work; while one message – in this case, that of longing – may be quite clear, other aspects of meaning remain ambiguous, hazy.

And, perhaps, that little bit of mystery is what has made Dickinson’s work endure.

Courtney Dekanich, a college sophomore, is currently
pursuing a degree in English at Silver Lake College.