Arcturus
Arcturus - meaning Summary
Nature Vs Scientific Classification
Dickinson contrasts intimate, emotional encounters with nature and the afterlife against the cold ordering of science. She objects to naming and classifying that strips wonder from butterflies, flowers, and stars, and wryly imagines cosmic disorder. The poem mixes humor and anxiety about being judged for old-fashioned feeling, ending with a humble hope that the divine will accept her simple, unchanged self beyond life’s mapped boundaries.
Read Complete AnalysesArcturus is his other name I’d rather call him Star. It’s very mean of Science To go and interfere! I slew a worm the other day A Savant passing by Murmured Resurgam Centipede! &q uot;Oh Lord how frail are we! I pull a flower from the woods A monster with a glass Computes the stamens in a breath And has her in a class! Whereas I took the Butterfly Aforetime in my hat He sits erect in Cabinets The Clover bells forgot. What once was Heaven Is Zenith now Where I proposed to go When Time’s brief masquerade was done Is mapped and charted too. What if the poles should frisk about And stand upon their heads! I hope I’m ready for the worst Whatever prank betides! Perhaps the Kingdom of Heaven’s changed I hope the Children there Won’t be new fashioned when I come And laugh at me and stare I hope the Father in the skies Will lift his little girl Old fashioned naught everything Over the stile of Pearl.
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