Emily Dickinson Reflection Blog By Abby&Gabby

Nature, the gentlest mother, is written by the author Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson has been known for writing about her love of nature and how even in its simplicity, it is the most beautiful thing that we have ever known. Many authors wrote about their love for nature during this time. For example, Walt Whitman was a big fan, and even before him, Ralph Waldo Emerson and David Henry Thoreau. Her poem starts out like this, “Nature, the gentlest mother, Impatient of no child, The feeblest or the waywardest,- Her admonition mild.” (Dickinson). To Emily Dickinson, Mother Nature was “the gentlest mother” and is also very patient with her children. In the second stanza it then goes on to say that she hears everything; whether it is in the forest or the hill, and that she is always “restraining rampant squirrel or too impetuous bird.” (Dickinson). Finally, in the third stanza, she goes on to say,“How fair her conversation, A summer afternoon, her household, her assembly; and when the sun goes down (Dickinson). I think that this is saying that no matter what time of day it is, or what season, or what year, Mother Nature is always beautiful. Not only is nature beautiful in the day, but even when the sun goes down, she still offers something wonderful, like the stars or the moon. I like how in her poem Emily Dickinson talks about Mother Nature as if she were an actual human. I think that it makes it more interesting for the reader and is very creative. In the fourth stanza, Emily Dickinson says how the voice of Mother Nature encourages the "timid prayer of the minutest cricket, the most unworthy flower" (Dickinson). In this stanza, I think what Emily Dickinson is trying to say is that everything in nature has some sort of purpose, like crickets and flowers. Even though they are not the best part of nature, they still have a purpose. In the fifth stanza, Emily Dickinson talks about how when the children are sleeping, Mother Nature lights the sky with her lamps (Dickinson). I think that when she says lamps she really means stars and the moon because they come out at night when everyone is sleeping. In the final stanza of this poem, Emily Dickinson says "With infinite affection, and infiniter care, her golden finger on her lip, wills silence everywhere" (Dickinson). In this stanza, Emily Dickinson is saying that with a lot of care Mother Nature wills silence at night. I think that this stanza was pretty much self explanatory because I think it means exactly what she is saying. I think that in this stanza Emily Dickinson uses imagery because she says "her golden finger on her lip" which I think is a form of imagery. Overall, this poem was really interesting to read because it was about Mother Nature and how she is the gentlest mother. This poem is really cool because Emily Dickinson refers to Mother Nature as if she is a real person, not just a figure of speech.