17 pages • 34-minute read
To make a prairie
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“There is no frigate like a book” by Emily Dickinson (1894)
Though this particular Dickinson poem appeared in publication in 1894, Dickinson originally wrote it in a letter in 1873. Just as visions and dreams are deemed essential components of production and industry in “To make a prairie,” “There is no frigate like a book” expounds on the ability of literature to transport its readers to new worlds through the imagination.
“Come Slowly - Eden” by Emily Dickinson (1891)
Dickinson’s poem first appeared in 1890 in Poems and also in 1891 in the Independent (from a copy Dickinson sent to her sister-in-law and friend, Susan Gilbert). The imagery of the flower (clover) and the bee found in “To make a prairie” repeats in “Come Slowly - Eden,” though in a much more provocative manner. Instead of referring to industry and self-reliance, the bee and flower in this particular Dickinson poem represent the union of two lovers.
“Fame is a bee” by Emily Dickinson (1999)
Dickinson wrote “Fame is a bee” in 1788. Continuing with the bee imagery utilized in her other poems, Dickinson uses the bee as a metaphor for fame and its various effects—some negative, some pleasant, some fleeting, and some painful.
Further Literary Resources
“Emily Dickinson and Japanese Aesthetics” by Masako Takeda (2014)
Takeda analyzes how Dickinson’s poetry reflects the Japanese aesthetics of brevity and absence. Specifically, Takeda acknowledges the presence of these traits and values in Dickinson’s “compression of language and the dash.” These empty spaces created through the dash and compression allow readers to become active participants in the text rather than passive recipients.
“Emily Dickinson’s Colorado” by Georgiana Strickland (1999)
Strickland strives to show the influence that the state of Colorado has had on Dickinson and her writing. Though Strickland acknowledges that Dickinson never visited Colorado at all, or stepped foot outside of New England, Strickland attempts to elaborate on how Dickinson indirectly references Colorado in her poems, and how she could have acquired knowledge about the state itself.
“‘To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee’: Dickinson’s Manufacturing of the Wild West” by Li-Hsin Hsu (2021)
Hsu elaborates on the connection between Dickinson’s poetry and the concept of Westward Expansion, suggesting her poems “speak to a national cultural thought experiment and a social-economic necessity, vacillating between industrial advancement and pastoral idealism, between utilitarianism and symbolism” (Hsu). Hsu analyzes Dickinson’s utilization of iconic western imagery and also compares her work to William Cullen Bryant’s “The Prairies” (1833).
Listen to Poem
John Graham puts Dickinson’s “To Make a Prairie” to Music
John Graham wrote the music to accompany Emily Dickinson’s poem “To make a prairie.” Here, the David Warin Solomon Chorale performs her lyrics with accompaniment.
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