A Feather from the Whippoorwill

A Feather from the Whippoorwill - context Summary

Composed 1860

Written in 1860 and first published posthumously in 1890 in Poems by Emily Dickinson, First Series, this short lyric exemplifies Dickinson’s compact, image-driven poems on nature. It registers a single object’a whippoorwill feather’as a concentrated symbol of birdlife, sound, and layered time, using jewel-like metaphors (emerald, beryl) to enlarge a small domestic detail into an emblem of continuity and wonder. The poem’s spare lines and concentrated nouns fit the mid-century context of private, reflective verse that later editors assembled for a public audience.