Arcturus Is His Other Name
poem 70
Arcturus Is His Other Name - meaning Summary
Science Vs Personal Wonder
Dickinson contrasts dry scientific classification with a personal, affectionate way of naming and relating to nature. She resents how scholars reduce living things to labels and museum specimens, arguing that such cataloguing robs creatures of their small, intimate meanings. The poem mixes wry humor and modest anxiety about cultural change—whether cosmic maps, museum curation, or even heaven’s manners might render her "old fashioned." Ultimately she expresses a hopeful, simple desire for acceptance: to be welcomed as she is rather than corrected or laughed at for loving the world in her own terms.
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’! ‘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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