Question Home

Position:Home>Poetry> To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee by Emily Dickinson analysis?


Question:To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee--
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.


Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924. Part Two: Nature, XCVII.

This is the poem I came across, but it is rather vague to me and I can't seem to find any analysis on the net. Could someone explain it thoroughly to me? E.g. what the bees and clover symbolises in reference to the prairie and reverie


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee--
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.


Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924. Part Two: Nature, XCVII.

This is the poem I came across, but it is rather vague to me and I can't seem to find any analysis on the net. Could someone explain it thoroughly to me? E.g. what the bees and clover symbolises in reference to the prairie and reverie

This poem speaks of the power of the mind, specifically daydreaming.

To make a prairie...a prairie has fertile soil, symbolizes - to create a large growing space that is fertile.

it takes a clover and one bee-- a small start and something to fertilize/pollinate it. Bees pollinate. The Bee Movie recently out, talks about the importance of bees. This helps me to understand the bee symbol.

One clover, and a bee, - repeated for emphasis. It just takes a seed or something small, a beginning and something to get it going.

And revery. - daydreaming or a dream

The revery alone will do - a dream is enough to get one started. Many big adventures and businesses started with a dream. There are some businesses that I know of that started in someone's garage or basement and are now multi-million dollar ventures.

If bees are few - if other pollinators are not available

Some people connect the clover to prosperity and the bee to sweet times. So to prosper and have a sweet life one only needs to start with a dream and then start with something small and pollinate it to make it grow. Before you know it you will have something large and fertile. And it all started in the mind with a dream or imagination that one dared to make reality.

This is my interpretation. Hope this helps.