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A Route of Evanescence -- Emily Dickinson

       
(Poem #174) A Route of Evanescence
 A Route of Evanescence
 With a revolving Wheel--
 A Resonance of Emerald--
 A Rush of Cochineal--
 And every Blossom on the Bush
 Adjusts its tumbled Head--
 The mail from Tunis, probably,
 An easy Morning's Ride--
-- Emily Dickinson
Like a minimalist painting, today's poem captures the essence of a scene
with a few, well chosen images. The fleeting blur of a train rushing by is
beautifully evoked by the almost fragmentary snapshots, gradually building
up into more complete images.

There's not really that much to say about it - you might like to compare it
to Stevenson's 'From a Railway Carriage'[1], a rather more detailed
treatment of the same theme.

[1] poem #84

Glossary:

  evanescence: The quality of being evanescent; tendency to vanish away.
  cochineal: The colour of cochineal-dye, scarlet.

Dickinson-related stuff: poem #92

27 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

betty said...

This poem is about a hummingbird. It hovers, it's colors flashing, then
darts away. Hummingbird wings really do revolve.

In the first four lines, her use of words beginning with "R" suggests a
wrrrrrrreing sound of how the bird rushes about. Her reference to the mail
fromn Tunis describes how effortlessly and quickly the bird moves.

In Johnson's book, it is listed by first line and also in Subject Index
under Humming Bird.

Betty Van Slyke

±è±æÁß said...

I wonder where "Tunis"is. Was it a name of a village or town near where ED lived? or does this refer to the ancient city in North Africa?

LeMoNaPs said...

Hi,
I am a college student in Alabama, and I am desperately trying to find
research on "A Route of Evanesence", by Emily Dickinson. Do you have any advice to
send me somewhere or a book that you know has substantial information in it
about the poem. Please email me back as soon as possible. Thank you. -Ashlee

Chris Good said...

I think this is a very good poem. Emily Dickinson is one of my favorite authors.

Advice to Ashlee: search the internet if I were you I would check out some books out of a library on it
good luck :)

***Caitie***

DOkum2 said...

Betty correctly identified the subject of this poem as a hummingbird. How
could anyone think it is about a train when it describes the blossoms from which
the hummingbird is drinking?

Toby Shandy

yuri torres said...

The last tow lines of the poem say it all. Hummingbirds do not migrate to North Africa, witch tells us that she is riding her bike to the mailbox. She describes how the bird is getting ready for a long ride south: by eating insects; she knows that her ride to the mailbox is an easy one compare to the hummingbird's journey.

Yuri

Wes Grimm said...

There are at least two images here. (1) A mail cart rushes past blossoms
leaving them to adjust their tumbled heads. (2) A humming bird, emerald and
cochineal in color, takes the nectar from each blossom methodically and
quickly. Together the images comment on the attitudes and responses to
sexual crime and violation against women. Emily Dickenson is slightly
feminist herself. Hint: What is the history of the city, Tunis, in N.
Africa?

Unknown said...

wahat is the theme of this poem please ?

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