| In 1891, the editor of New York’s The Independent published a favorable review of the newly published Poems by Emily Dickinson, and then he wrote to Mabel Loomis Todd requesting additional poems to publish in his paper. She sent him four, from which he printed three. One of the three was “God made a little Gentian.”  |  |
As I explored this poem, I came across various sites analyzing the poem, and I happened upon this comment:
“Until its last line, ‘God made a little Gentian’ is a clever homily for children, a botanical version of red-nose Rudolf with frost instead of fog, including
“It tried — to be a Rose --
And failed — and all the Summer laughed —”
Here's another:
“Like Fringed Gentian, ED is a ‘Creature’ of the North. ‘Snows’ and ‘Frosts’ remind her of the cold silence of Judeo-Christian God and stimulate her to ‘bloom’ poems, including this one. In Line 12 ED asks a pantheistic ‘Creator’ to get involved, ‘Shall I — bloom?’
Perhaps she wants a formal invitation, just for physical evidence that He exists. At any rate, bloom she did.”
One other interesting comment I came across:
“Lines referring to God begin and end the poem, the last line more intimate than the first. God is associated here with frost, winter and death. ED often describes a god that is indifferent (‘Apparently with no surprise to any happy flower, the frost beheads it at its play in accidental power . . . for an approving God’) and the creatures of his creation – small and insignificant (‘Victory comes late –- . . . God keeps His Oath to Sparrows – Who of little Love – know how to starve’). ED's god may note a sparrow falling, but doesn't intervene.
This poem is in line with these others. But the insignificant here – the ‘little Gentian’ – has its own power, a royal purple color that shames all of nature – a power invoked by winter and death.
It's a lovely poem.”
“Until its last line, ‘God made a little Gentian’ is a clever homily for children, a botanical version of red-nose Rudolf with frost instead of fog, including
“It tried — to be a Rose --
And failed — and all the Summer laughed —”
Here's another:
“Like Fringed Gentian, ED is a ‘Creature’ of the North. ‘Snows’ and ‘Frosts’ remind her of the cold silence of Judeo-Christian God and stimulate her to ‘bloom’ poems, including this one. In Line 12 ED asks a pantheistic ‘Creator’ to get involved, ‘Shall I — bloom?’
Perhaps she wants a formal invitation, just for physical evidence that He exists. At any rate, bloom she did.”
One other interesting comment I came across:
“Lines referring to God begin and end the poem, the last line more intimate than the first. God is associated here with frost, winter and death. ED often describes a god that is indifferent (‘Apparently with no surprise to any happy flower, the frost beheads it at its play in accidental power . . . for an approving God’) and the creatures of his creation – small and insignificant (‘Victory comes late –- . . . God keeps His Oath to Sparrows – Who of little Love – know how to starve’). ED's god may note a sparrow falling, but doesn't intervene.
This poem is in line with these others. But the insignificant here – the ‘little Gentian’ – has its own power, a royal purple color that shames all of nature – a power invoked by winter and death.
It's a lovely poem.”
| I remembered, too, that I had a book about Dickinson’s love of gardening, “Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life (The Plants & Places That Inspired the Iconic Poet)” by Marta McDowell, and I wondered if the poem were included among its offerings. It was not – although it does include the poem “The Gentian has a parched Corolla.” Click the pic at the right to enlarge. |  |
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