Emily Dickinson’s “A Light exists in Spring”

Emily Dickinson’s “A Light exists in Spring”

The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s “A Light exists in Spring” is striving to portray a certain kind of light that “exists [only] in Spring” or very near spring.

Introduction with Text of “A Light exists in Spring”

Emily Dickinson’s “A Light exists in Spring” features five quatrains with a somewhat erratic rime scheme.  Each quatrain follows a fairly regular pattern of ABCB with the second quatrain offering the slant rime, “fields / feels,” and the third quatrain offering no rime at all. 

The final quatrain again features an irregular pair of rimes, “Content / Sacrament.”  The theme of the poem focuses on a special feeling that becomes engendered in the observer as she experiences a certain kind of light.

A Light exists in Spring

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period –
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay –

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

Commentary on “A Light exists in Spring”

Emily Dickinson has created a speaker in “A Light exists in Spring” who is musing upon and then striving to portray a certain kind of light that becomes visible only during the season of spring or, at least, very near that season of rebirth.

First Quatrain:  A Particular Light

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

The speaker asserts that this light may be experienced “in Spring,” and this particular light cannot be seen at any other time of the year.  However, the speaker then reports that this light does appear just after the month of March has arrived.

This claim, therefore, suggests that the light might also appear just before the actual season of spring has arrived.  The season of spring does not begin until the third week of March, not in early March, as the speaker seems to be suggesting.

Second Quatrain:   Not Identified by Science

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

The speaker now claims that it is possible to observe a certain shade of color that has descended upon the “fields.” This extraordinary “color” apparently has not been identified in nature by science.  However, human beings, according to this speaker, are capable of sensing this color without a name for or scientific description of it.

The speaker, therefore, hints that the color of this special light does not exist at all in nature, and it is perhaps only visible to the human soul—not the mind or even the heart—as  such lights as rainbows or the aura borealis are visible to the human eye.

Third Quatrain:  Unearthly, Perhaps Mystical

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

This unearthly—perhaps even mystical—light with its special color may be experienced as it stands “upon the Lawn.” However, the light may also appear in trees that grow very far away and may also be gleaned from faraway, quite distant from the where the speaker views it.  The speaker now reports that this strange mystical light may seem to converse with anyone, but its language would be one only known to the soul.

The speaker then strives to arouse in her listeners and readers an understanding that would be quite likely impossible to shape into words.  The speaker has been carried to an indescribable place within her own soul.

This light that is capable of “wait[ing] upon the Lawn” but does not instantly pass across the lawn strongly suggests that it is capable of  halting time for a short period—possibly to allow the observer to contemplate the nature of its existence.

Fourth Quatrain:  As the Light Passes

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —

That time period which comes through experiencing that special light cannot wait long and thus “it passes.”  Of course, the observer remains, that is, this speaker remains where she is while the light passes on.

The special light thus seems to resemble sunlight after it has passed overhead around the noon hour.  Naturally, its final departure is without fanfare, although the speaker seems to have expected a sound, or some other sign to help her understand the strange feeling that this light has engendered in her.

Fifth Quatrain:   An Inappropriate Intrusion

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

The speaker then asserts that she feels a kind of deep loss.  It is as if something drastically inappropriate has happened.   The speaker expresses that painful inappropriateness as the same as finding of “Trade” intruding “Upon a Sacrament.”  She feels as wronged as Jesus felt upon encountering the money changers in the temple.  

Spiritual Clarity

In Emily Dickinson’s “A Light exists in Spring,” the speaker has made a valiant effort to describe the ineffable.  Such a task is impossible, but it is possible to portray the feelings that this ineffable entity has engendered in the heart and mind of the individual observer of that indescribable entity. 

Thus the speaker has remained vague about what this light looks like, but she has made it quite clear how it has made her feel, and that is her reason for creating this particular little drama.

The speaker’s experience viewing this special light has moved her very deeply. Although she cannot portray the light’s physical nature, she can suggest the nature of the way the light has influenced her mentally and spiritually.