Compulsory English: Section- B: Literature: Unit 2. Poems:

1. A Day

- Emily Dickinson

Before reading 

Answer the following questions.

a. What kind of day do you like: rainy, sunny or foggy? Why? 

b. How does the sun tell us about different stages of a day?

About the Poet

One of the most eminent American poets from the nineteenth century, Emily Dickinson’s (1830-1886) poetry was heavily influenced by the Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England, as well as her reading of the Book of Revelation and her upbringing in a Puritan New England town. These upbringings inculcated in her Calvinist, orthodox, and conservative approach to Christianity. Dickinson and Walt Whitman are considered the founders of a uniquely American poetic voice. While Dickinson was extremely prolific as a poet her regularly enclosed poems in letters to friends she was not publicly recognized during her lifetime. However, she has been steadily gaining popularity through her posthumously published poems.

In her poem “A Day”, Dickinson, through the use of brilliant imageries and symbols, describes a beautiful day that leads the children from innocence to experience. 

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.

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


Summary:

The poem "A Day," composed by Emily Dickinson describes a beautiful day that brings the child from innocence to experience using brilliant imagery and symbols in the four different beautiful stanzas. We can divide the poem into two parts: an eight-line segment describing the sunrise and an eight-line segment describing the speaker's misunderstanding of the sunset.

The poet describes the sunrise at a village and the things in that village. The speaker of the poem clearly describes how the sun rises, what happens after the sun rises. At the Sun rising, the sun's rays are referred to as "ribbons" that fall over the steeples of the church, and changing its colour to amethyst. The news of sun shine spreads very fast like the Squirrel's running. 

The second stanza explains the events that occur as a result of sunrise. In the early morning light, the dark hills are visible, and a small American bird, the bobolink, begins to sing. The brightness and warmth of the Sun makes all living creatures happy and pleasant. The speaker speaks to himself to be confirmed about the Sunrise with its lovely and magnificent beams. 

 The speaker in the third stanza changes the subject matter from sunrise to sunset, and the speaker's tone shifts from excited to reserved. The child's confidence declines as he or she knows so little about sunsets. The poet uses this stanza to depict(show) the transition (change) from life to death. So, this poem is more metaphorical (philosophical) than literal (verbal).

In the final stanza of the speaker reveals the poet's faith. This purely symbolic stanza employs Christian themes such as "flock" and "Dominie in gray" to demonstrate the poet's own perspective on death. A "Dominie in gray" symbolises "God" and a "flock" means "human beings," God leads human beings wherever they go once they die. The stanza, on the other hand, literally welcomes in the evening as the sun eventually sets. The poem, A Day ends with a sad tone because of the speaker's passion of non-existent at this point due to the inactivity of the moment.                                                   

           Understanding the text 
Answer the following questions. 
a. How does the poet describe the morning sun in the first stanza?
Ans :- The poet describes the morning sun being very excited in the first stanza. The sun's beams looked like a series of loosely knotted ribbons. The steeples of the church shone like an amethyst colour. Then, the news of the sun's shining spreads as quickly as a squirrel can run.
b. What does the line 'The news like squirrels ran' mean?
Ans :- The meaning of the line 'The news like squirrels ran' is that the pace of spread of the news of Sunrise was very fast like that of the squirrel's running. The light of the sun spreads rapidly. That's why, the poet used the metaphor of 'The news like squirrels ran' to indicate that the news of sunrise was very quick.
c. What do you understand by the line "The hills untied their bonnets'?
Ans :- Before sunrise, the hills seemed darker with the bonnets, special type of hat of darkness as they were not happy at night. But as soon as the sun begins to appear and the sun rays fall on hills, they become so happy and excited by removing their bonnets of darkness. The rays of the sun unveil their greenery and beauty in excellent green colour after sunrise.
d. Is the speaker watching the morning sun? Why? Why not?
Ans :- No, the speaker is not watching the morning sun as he is not doing the real-time narration of the morning sun. ‘I’ll tell you how the Sun rose' means that the speaker has witnessed the sun rise and the changes after the sun rise, and at the present time he is describing what he saw to his friends who woke up later in the morning.
e. How does the sun set?
Ans: The speaker is really unknown to the sunset. All he knows is that the sun goes away taking all the happiness, joy and leaves the unhappy and gloomy dark when it sets. He doesn't know it more. The slowly turning purple and yellow hues/colour signal the sun's setting. As the speaker doesn't know how exactly the sun sets, he is unclear about it.


Reference to the context
a. What, according to the speaker, is a day?
Ans: Emily Dickinson's 'A Day' is a lyrical poem that describes the morning and the sunset. A day is symbolised as human life. A day is life, where sun rise is the birth, and setting of the sun is compared with death. It also depicts the beauty of life and the uncertainty of death in a philosophical sense. 
Sunrise and sunset are literally described in "A Day.' it further describes the journey from life to death in a metaphorical way.
b. What purpose does the hyphen in the first line serve in the poem?
Ans:- Hyphen (-) is used in poetry to indicate a break. In this poem, Emily Dickenson innovatively utilizes this punctuation mark. She is using hyphens as if she does not find the words for profound feelings, to give readers the power of silence in some circumstances, to imagine, to fill the missing word, or she is allowing the readers to take some  time to ponder on the context by themselves.
c. What makes this poem lyrical and sonorous? Discuss.
Ans:- It is a lyrical poem in the sense that it communicates the author's own thoughts and feelings. In lyrical poetry, the use of the first-person pronoun "I" denotes the poet's identity. In this poem, the author expresses her own personal experience of waking up to the first rays of sunlight. Sonorous is a style of writing that is rich in sound and crammed with rhymes phrases. The musical and melodic quality of a poem is influenced by a wide range of circumstances. Sound methods including alliteration, assonance, rhyme, and rhythm are used in this poem to improve its musicality.
d. Who is the target audience of the speaker? Why?
Ans:- In this poem, Children and Adults both are the target audience of the speaker. The readers are shown the world as viewed by an innocent child. Speaker is telling his friends, "I will tell you how the sun rose". So, We may argue that the intended audience consists of children who have missed the opportunity to see the sun rising when they wake up late in the morning. When we look at the poem from a philosophical point of view, the whole human race is also the intended audience. Sunrise is the beginning of life, daytime activities are a trip through life, and sundown is the end of life. However, the final result is a little mysterious
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.
Ans:- Although the poem seems to describes a day for children, it is also suitable for adult people. This poem is a literal description of the dawn, as well as the events that occur between sunrise and sunset. For children, the direct meaning of the poem is applicable but for adults, the metaphysical meaning of this poem makes more sense. To be more precise, the poem speaks about the passage from life to death in a metaphysical sense. There is enthusiasm at the beginning of life, a squirrel racing like a life and a strange conclusion to a life in this poem.