What Would I Give to See His Face?
poem 247
What Would I Give to See His Face? - meaning Summary
A Bartering of Devotion
Dickinson’s poem stages a playful, extravagant pledge: the speaker imagines trading everything to see a beloved’s face, enumerating fantastical gifts—birds, flowers, bees, seas of butterflies, exotic riches—as if bargaining with a sovereign or creditor. The listing grows comic and baroque, then snaps to a ceremonious vow of payment, mixing devotion with irony. The closing phrases compress joy and sting, framing love as both ecstatic contract and begrudging grace.
Read Complete AnalysesWhat would I give to see his face? I’d give I’d give my life of course But that is not enough! Stop just a minute let me think! I’d give my biggest Bobolink! That makes two Him and Life! You know who June is I’d give her Roses a day from Zanzibar And Lily tubes like Wells Bees by the furlong Straits of Blue Navies of Butterflies sailed thro’ And dappled Cowslip Dells Then I have shares in Primrose Banks Daffodil Dowries spicy Stocks Dominions broad as Dew Bags of Doublons adventurous Bees Brought me from firmamental seas And Purple from Peru Now have I bought it Shylock? Say! Sign me the Bond! I vow to pay To Her who pledges this One hour of her Sovereign’s face! Ecstatic Contract! Niggard Grace! My Kingdom’s worth of Bliss!
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