𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 "𝐏𝐨𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲

 

𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

Have you got a Brook in your little heart,

Where bashful flowers blow,

And blushing birds go down to drink,

And shadows tremble so—

And nobody knows, so still it flows,

That any brook is there,

And yet your little draught of life

Is daily drunken there—

Why –  look out for the little brook in March,

When the rivers overflow,

And the snows come hurrying from the hills,

And the bridges often go—

And later, in August it may be,

When the meadows parching lie,

Beware, lest this little brook of life,

Some burning noon go dry!       

                                      

SUMMARY

Rather than still waters running deep, Dickinson presents us with an image of a “little heart” with not a river but a Brook. It’s flowers are “bashful”, and so delicate and tremulous a place it is that even the birds blush to drink there and “shadows tremble.” 
      If that weren’t enough, it can get swollen to bursting in the floods of spring—its “bridges often go” – and in late summer it might very well dry up altogether.
            The poet asks the reader directly whether or not she has a little brook of her own, implying that some people don’t have this life spring. Perhaps they just plod along lifelessly, or perhaps they have a less vulnerable source of life. Brook people get easily overwhelmed with floods of emotion or wither away without any life-giving water to replenish it. Maybe river people keep a more even keel.
            I don’t find this one of Dickinson’s more successful poems. The first line puts me on the spot: Am I alive enough, do I have such a lovely spot inside me? Yet by the end of the poem I’m questioning the value of such a vulnerable source for a “little draught of life.” Perhaps the key word is “little.” A little heart requires only a little “draught of life.” The voice itself is little and bashful, opening with that timid-sounding question. Several phrases are inverted in service of the rhyme, and this always strikes me as lazy. Dickinson doesn’t need to do it in other poems but here we have “so still it flows” and “the meadows parching lie.”
            The meter and rhyme, however, move the poem along at a nice, bubbling-brook pace. Several long “o” words and rhymes provide a nice open feel: blow, so, nobody knows, flows, overflow, go. The meter is a charming combination of iambs and anapests: “And nobody knows, so still it flows” can be read as iamb, anapest, iamb, iamb. Similar patterns are seen in the 9th and 15th lines.

   It seems likely to me that Dickinson is writing about the source of her poetry. She wrote her poems alone in her room and no one knew how very many she wrote. Her sister and life-long friend were amazed at the quantity. Sometimes she might be flooded with creativity, but she was always aware of the fragility of it all. She knew very well that without a well spring or rain, her poetry would “go dry.”

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS                                    DATE:10/08/2021

a. What do the flowers and the birds do by the brook?
Ans. The bashful flowers blow, and the blushing birds go down to drink in the brook.

b. Where does the snow come from? What happens to the bridges then?
Ans. Snow comes hurrying from the hills. The bridges are washed away by the overflowing rivers just like  the overflow of human emotions break all barriers.

c. Give two examples of alliteration in the poem, other than the one already mentioned.
Ans. The two examples of alliteration are hurrying from the hills, bashful flowers  blow, and blushing birds.

d. What kind of noon has been referred in the poem? Explain it in your own words.
Ans. The poet refers to the burning noon which often dries up the brook and parches the meadows. During August due to the scorching heat of the sun, the noon seems to be burning. Symbolically the drying up of the brook is compared to the drying up of human emotions. 

   REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT (UPDATED : 17/08/2021

1.And nobody, knows, so still it flows

That any brook is there;

And yet your little draught of life

Is daily drunken there,

 

a. Where is the brook located?

Ans. The brook is located in the distant woods.

b. Why is the location unknown to many?

Ans. The location was unknown to many as people do not frequent the woods.

c. Why do we need the ‘draught of life’ daily?

Ans. We need the ‘draught of life’ daily to refresh ourselves.

 

2.And later, in August it may be,

When the meadows parching lie

 

a. What do the parching meadows of August signify?

Ans. The parching meadows of August signify the drying up of human emotions 

from our life.

b. What does the poet warns her readers about?

Ans. The poet warns her readers to be careful so that our life is not devoid of 

emotions.

c. How does the brook change from March to August?

Ans. The brook in the month of August overflows like spring of man’s life which is 

full of emotions but in August, the brook starts drying up and often gets lost just 

like the emotions in human life dry up with the passage of time.     

  

Accumulated By: Sir Ashish Rai
English Literature 
Asst. Teacher RMA