Nature, the Gentlest Mother,
Nature, the Gentlest Mother, - meaning Summary
Nature as Nurturing Mother
Dickinson personifies Nature as a tender, maternal force who cares for every creature without harshness. She is patient with the weakest and the most wayward, guiding with mild admonition and a steady presence in woods and hills. Nature’s daily routines—an afternoon gathering, the promptings of small animals and flowers—show a domestic, communal order. At night she watches over the sleeping “children,” tending lamps and enforcing silence with loving restraint. The poem presents care and control as complementary: gentle protection that includes quiet discipline on behalf of the vulnerable.
Read Complete AnalysesNature, the gentlest mother, Impatient of no child, The feeblest or the waywardest, Her admonition mild In forest and the hill By traveller is heard, Restraining rampant squirrel Or too impetuous bird. How fair her conversation, A summer afternoon,– Her household, her assembly; And when the sun goes down Her voice among the aisles Incites the timid prayer Of the minutest cricket, The most unworthy flower. When all the children sleep She turns as long away As will suffice to light her lamps; Then, bending from the sky With infinite affection And infiniter care, Her golden finger on her lip, Wills silence everywhere.
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