Emily Dickinson’s “Nobody knows this little Rose”
Emily Dickinson loved flowers, as well as all other creatures of nature. The rose became a symbol for her, signifying beauty and the evanescence of all natural beings. From a lament for a single rose, she begins to muse on the relationship of the Divine to His creation, including her own creations.
Introduction with Text of “Nobody knows this little Rose”
The speaker in Emily Dickinson’s “Nobody knows this little Rose” is bemoaning the sadness that a “little Rose” will surely die without having attracted attention during its sojourn on the earthly plane. Only a bee, a bird, a butterfly, along with a gentle wind and the speaker will likely have even noticed that such a beautiful entity had existed.
In observing that it is quite easy for this little rose to succumb to death, the speaker goes into mourning for that death. Such beauty, the speaker opines, should not be so easily lost but instead should attract the attention it deserves.Perhaps it should even have its stature elevated to a higher plane of being than the mere physical level of being, which it is so easily vanquished.
Nobody knows this little Rose
Nobody knows this little Rose –
It might a pilgrim be
Did I not take it from the ways
And lift it up to thee.
Only a Bee will miss it –
Only a Butterfly,
Hastening from far journey –
On its breast to lie –
Only a Bird will wonder –
Only a Breeze will sigh –
Ah Little Rose – how easy
For such as thee to die!
Commentary on “Nobody knows this little Rose”
The speaker is musing about the death of a small rose. She imagines its family mourning the rose’s absence. The speaker, while musing to herself, incidentally addresses God in the opening movement and then the rose itself in the final movement.
First Movement: Lamentation for the Unknown
Nobody knows this little Rose –
It might a pilgrim be
Did I not take it from the ways
And lift it up to thee.
The speaker begins her lament by claiming that no one is acquainted with her subject, a simple, small rose. She has plucked this little rose, which apparently was growing in the wild.
The speaker speculates that this little rose might be “a pilgrim” for it was growing away from other flower beds. She then rather casually asks someone, likely God, or Mother Nature about her own act.
Although formed as a question, the speaker actually reveals the fact that she did pluck the little flower and then offered it up to “thee.” It remains a strange confession, but it is likely that the act of plucking the rose has set her off to realizing that it will now die. But instead of just enjoying its beauty, she continues to speculate about the life of the little flower.
Second Movement: Only Missing
Only a Bee will miss it –
Only a Butterfly,
Hastening from far journey –
On its breast to lie –
In her speculation, the speaker takes into account who might have been its visitors. She exaggerates that a solitary bee “will miss” the rose because of the speaker’s act. But after saying “only” a bee will note that the little rose is missing, she remembers that likely a “butterfly” will also note its absence.
The butterfly will have traveled perhaps miles to rest upon the little rose’s “breast.” And the butterfly, the speaker speculates, will have been hurrying to finish its “journey” that led it to the rose’s abode. Now after it makes that hastened trip, it will be astonished, or perhaps frustrated, that the little flower has gone missing.
Third Movement: The Ease of Dying
Only a Bird will wonder –
Only a Breeze will sigh –
Ah Little Rose – how easy
For such as thee to die!
The speaker continues to catalogue those creatures who will be missing the little rose. She notes that in addition to the bee and the butterfly, some bird is going to wonder what happened to the flower. The last entity to ponder the absence of the little rose is the “Breeze,” which will “sigh” as it wafts over the location that once held the sweet fragrance of the rose.
After the speaker’s intense musing to herself and to the Blessèd Creator of nature, she then addresses the rose itself, but all she can do is offer a simple, humble remark about how “easy” it is for a creature such as the “Little Rose” “to die!” Her excited utterance, however, belies the simplicity of the words. Her heart is filled with the sadness and sorrow that accompany the missing of loved ones.
The speaker has created and assembled a family for the little rose: a bee, a butterfly, a bird, and a breeze. All of these creatures of nature have interacted with the rose, and now the speaker is musing on how they will be affected by the flower’s absence.
They will all miss her, and the speaker knows how missing a loved one feels. The ease with which a little unknown creature dies does not assuage the pain its absence will cause.
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