Nature rarer uses Yellow
Nature rarer uses Yellow
Than another Hue –
Saves she all of that for Sunsets –
Prodigal of Blue
Spending Scarlet, like a Woman
Yellow she affords
Only scantly and selectly
Like a Lover's Words –
1086 (1865)
In this seemingly simple poem, Emily Dickinson is able to capture a deeper understanding of nature’s ways. She opens with the pretty direct statement that yellow is the rarest color in nature. She continues on to explain that its saved to use only for sunsets, unlike blue which she says nature overuses. Yellow is a color that nature thoughtfully selects to use for very specific purposes, comparing it to the perfectly chosen words of a lover.
I find the emphasis on yellow sunsets in this poem really interesting. It seems like the common understanding of a beautiful sunset is one with a variety of colors: red, orange, purple, blue, pink. Yet Dickinson asserts that it is really just a simple yellow sunset that is the most rare and thoughtful and should therefore be valued more.
Obviously, Dickinson uses the diction of color in this poem; not only with yellow but with blue as well. She describes nature as a “Prodigal of Blue.” The Dickinson Lexicon says that “Prodigal” is defined as “squanderer” or “recklessly extravagant.” Dickinson is essentially accusing nature of wasting the color blue by using it so much. By doing this, she is simultaneously supporting her claim about the rarity of yellow. In comparison to blue, nature’s use of yellow is reserved and special making it all the more important when its put into sunsets. Her choice to use the word “prodigal” of course also brings to mind the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son which Dickinson would most definitely have been familiar with due to her Puritan roots. In this story, a man gives his two sons their inheritance and while one stays home and helps support the father, the other goes out and spends all the money resulting in him having to return home. He is prepared to humble himself and beg his father’s forgiveness but is surprised when the father throws a celebration of his son’s return. The story emphasizes the value of ones that were once lost being found and returning home. With this in mind, it’s interesting that blue that is wasted by nature in this poem, which is the color that will return the next day after the yellow sunset.
As with most of the other poems on this blog, this one sticks to a stricter version on hymn meter than many of Dickenson’s other works. It seems that this is a common thread for her nature poems. The sense of order created by the perfect altering tetrameter and trimeter parallels the order that Dickinson sees in nature. Despite it seeming chaotic at times to humans, there is a set system in nature.
Dickinson uses a lot of words and imagery related to economic and transactional themes in this poem. Words such as “saves,” “spending,” “affords,” and “prodigal” all suggest something like a monitory transaction. By depicting nature as an entity that is bound to the same economic conventions as humans, Dickinson sheds new light on her understanding of nature. Nature, just like people, must save up her use of certain things (the color yellow) in order to prioritize their importance. The rarity of yellow in nature is akin to an economic scarcity in human terms. We see Dickinson do this often in her nature poems; she is forced to describe things that are beyond human understanding, is completely human term. She strives to know nature but how can she when she is constrained by human conventions of speech?
Than another Hue –
Saves she all of that for Sunsets –
Prodigal of Blue
Spending Scarlet, like a Woman
Yellow she affords
Only scantly and selectly
Like a Lover's Words –
1086 (1865)
In this seemingly simple poem, Emily Dickinson is able to capture a deeper understanding of nature’s ways. She opens with the pretty direct statement that yellow is the rarest color in nature. She continues on to explain that its saved to use only for sunsets, unlike blue which she says nature overuses. Yellow is a color that nature thoughtfully selects to use for very specific purposes, comparing it to the perfectly chosen words of a lover.
I find the emphasis on yellow sunsets in this poem really interesting. It seems like the common understanding of a beautiful sunset is one with a variety of colors: red, orange, purple, blue, pink. Yet Dickinson asserts that it is really just a simple yellow sunset that is the most rare and thoughtful and should therefore be valued more.
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| A yellow sunset over the ocean |
As with most of the other poems on this blog, this one sticks to a stricter version on hymn meter than many of Dickenson’s other works. It seems that this is a common thread for her nature poems. The sense of order created by the perfect altering tetrameter and trimeter parallels the order that Dickinson sees in nature. Despite it seeming chaotic at times to humans, there is a set system in nature.
Dickinson uses a lot of words and imagery related to economic and transactional themes in this poem. Words such as “saves,” “spending,” “affords,” and “prodigal” all suggest something like a monitory transaction. By depicting nature as an entity that is bound to the same economic conventions as humans, Dickinson sheds new light on her understanding of nature. Nature, just like people, must save up her use of certain things (the color yellow) in order to prioritize their importance. The rarity of yellow in nature is akin to an economic scarcity in human terms. We see Dickinson do this often in her nature poems; she is forced to describe things that are beyond human understanding, is completely human term. She strives to know nature but how can she when she is constrained by human conventions of speech?
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