Emily Dickinson

What Shall I Do When the Summer Troubles

poem 956

What Shall I Do When the Summer Troubles - meaning Summary

Summer's Abundance and Longing

The speaker confronts summer's overflow of life with anxious wonder. Natural abundance—ripe roses, singing eggs, bees, and squirrels hoarding berries—becomes evidence of joy the speaker cannot share. Repeated questions capture helplessness and a personal distance from a beloved: "Thou from Here, so far?" The poem contrasts migratory creatures, like the robin, with the speaker’s rooted condition, raising themes of longing, exclusion, and the pain of being unable to partake in seasonal exuberance.

Read Complete Analyses

What shall I do when the Summer troubles What, when the Rose is ripe What when the Eggs fly off in Music From the Maple Keep? What shall I do when the Skies a’chirrup Drop a Tune on me When the Bee hangs all Noon in the Buttercup What will become of me? Oh, when the Squirrel fills His Pockets And the Berries stare How can I bear their jocund Faces Thou from Here, so far? ‘Twouldn’t afflict a Robin All His Goods have Wings I do not fly, so wherefore My Perennial Things?

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