The Blue Jay
The Blue Jay - meaning Summary
Bold Winter Neighbor
Dickinson praises the blue jay as a civic, combative, and lively winter presence. The bird braves February storms with cheerful noise, plays with snow, and seems to mock the severe sky. Its evergreen roost and sparse, purposeful larder suggest hardy independence. The speaker admires the jay’s invigorating character and challenges the idea of an unjust afterlife that might omit such a spirited, disputatious neighbor from immortality.
Read Complete AnalysesNo brigadier throughout the year So civic as the jay. A neighbor and a warrior too, With shrill felicity Pursuing winds that censure us A February day, The brother of the universe Was never blown away. The snow and he are intimate; I ‘ve often seen them play When heaven looked upon us all With such severity, I felt apology were due To an insulted sky, Whose pompous frown was nutriment To their temerity. The pillow of this daring head Is pungent evergreens; His larder terse and militant Unknown, refreshing things; His character a tonic, His future a dispute; Unfair an immortality That leaves this neighbor out.
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