Emily Dickinson’s “It did not surprise me”
In Emily Dickinson’s “It did not surprise me,” the speaker has created a bird metaphor as she begins to muse on the unlikely event that she may lose her intuitive ability to perceive beyond sense awareness.
Introduction with Text of “It did not surprise me”
With a similar motivational purpose of her riddle-poem “I have a Bird in spring,” Emily Dickinson’s speaker in “It did not surprise me” employs a bird metaphor to contemplate the notion that her special intuitive ability to perceive events, ideas, and entities beyond sense awareness might abandon her.
The bird metaphor remains a useful poetic device for Emily Dickinson‘s speakers as they bestow flight on their ability to create poetic dramas. Also, similar to her riddle-poem “I have a Bird in spring” in this little drama, the speaker is unveiling the metaphorical bird as a mystical muse, as the speaker ruminates on the idea that if that little birdling were to fly away from her, she would become heartbroken.
However, unlike the riddle aspect in “I have a Bird in spring,” the poet allows her speaker to report first as if she is merely describing a literal bird. The speaker then moves into a questioning format which shines a light on the possibility that her muse might just up and fly off as any real bird might do.
The speaker is obliged, however, to leave the issue without answering it, because she will keep that question as long as she continues in her mission of poetry creation. Ultimately, no creative artist can ever know in advance, if or when inspiration will vanish and possibly never return.
Despite temporary flights into the clairvoyance of certain noumena, as long as the poet remains earth bound, she remains dependent to a certain extent on ordinary sense awareness.
It did not surprise me
It did not surprise me –
So I said – or thought –
She will stir her pinions
And the nest forgot,
Traverse broader forests –
Build in gayer boughs,
Breathe in Ear more modern
God’s old fashioned vows –
This was but a Birdling –
What and if it be
One within my bosom
Had departed me?
This was but a story –
What and if indeed
There were just such coffin
In the heart instead?
Reading of “It did not surprise me”
Commentary on “It did not surprise me”
Dickinson’s speaker metaphorically likens her muse—which she knows is bound to her mystical insight—to a bird, as she contemplates the possibility of losing the blessing provided by her innate, God-given talent and mystical ability.
First Stanza: A Thought Awakening
It did not surprise me –
So I said – or thought –
She will stir her pinions
And the nest forgot,
The speaker begins her soliloquy by admitting that her lack of “surprise” at some event has been prompted by the thought of a bird stirring and flying off from its nest. Between her opening statement and the bird’s first movement, the speaker asserts that upon realizing her lack of surprise, she spoke out but then changed her claim to the fact that she merely thought about the coming event without actually giving it voice.
The final two lines of the stanza express the possibility of an activity as she states that this particular bird will start fluttering its wings, readying itself for flight and then fly off from its nest. Such an avian forsaking its nest will then likely not even recall that it had ever stayed there.
That status is simply the essential nature of natural creatures, as well as specific metaphorical birds that may be likened to the muse. If this style of muse abandons its target permanently, it will likely not recall that it had ever inspired any such soul.
Interestingly, Dickinson has her speaker employ the past tense “forgot” but clearly the actual meaning is present tense “forget.” She possibly employed the past tense because it stands in as a closer rime to “thought.”
However, a different interpretation of the meaning may call for the term “forgot” to be understood as the shortened form of the past participle, as in the nest will be “forgotten.” Through her widespread employment of minimalism and ellipsis, the poet has her speaker leave out “nest will be,” requiring the phrase to be understood and, therefore, supplied by the reader’s mind.
Second Stanza: Ranging to New Territories
Traverse broader forests –
Build in gayer boughs,
Breathe in Ear more modern
God’s old fashioned vows –
After rousing its pinions and flying from its nest, this bird will roam in new territories or through “broader forests.” It may reconstruct a new nest in a place deemed happier for its circumstances, that is, “gayer boughs.” The bird will listen to fresh sounds, as it enjoys the many blessings of its Divine Creator, Who has promised to guard and guide all of His creatures.
At this point, the bird has taken on only a few metaphorical qualities. The message could thus be that of merely dramatizing what any young bird might do, after awakening to the marvelous reality of possessing the delicious ability to fly and range wide from its original location.
Third Stanza: Bird in the Heart
This was but a Birdling –
What and if it be
One within my bosom
Had departed me?
The speaker now admits that the little flying creature she has been describing was, in actuality, a simple little bird, or “Birdling.” But then she changes her focus to the “One” that lives in her heart, asking the basic question—what if my little bird-muse leaves me?
In her poem “I have a Bird in spring,” the poet also had her speaker describe her mystical muse as a bird. That poem also plays out as one of her numerous riddle-poems, as she seems to be describing some impossible entity that can fly from her but then return to her and bring her gifts from beyond the sea.
That special metaphorical bird has the power to calm her in times of stress. Similar to “I have a Bird in spring,” which is one of her most profound poems, this one, “It did not surprise me,” remains on the exact same consistent plane of mystical perception.
Unquestionably, the natural creature known as a “bird” as a metaphorical vehicle for the soul (muse or mystically creative spirit) remains quite appropriate, as poet Paul Laurence Dunbar has also demonstrated in his classic masterpiece “Sympathy.”
Fourth Stanza: A Intriguing Inquiry
This was but a story –
What and if indeed
There were just such coffin
In the heart instead?
The speaker offers another admission that up to this point she has been merely speculating about her bird/muse flying off from its nest in her heart/mind/soul. She crafts another inquiry, repeating the curious phrase “[w]hat and if” before her question.
This poignant question employs the term “coffin” indicating the drastic and deadly situation that would exist in her mind/heart/soul, if her bird/muse did actually fly off from her to explore more extensive forests and build nests on more joyful boughs. The speaker affirms her belief that such a loss to her heart and mind would materialize that “coffin,” if such an event ever transpired.
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