An Emily Dickinson Poem---"If you were coming in the fall" Help on und

Question:

An Emily Dickinson Poem---"If you were coming in the fall" Help on understanding "Goblin bee"

I can't understand the last stanza and the line that says "It goads me, like the goblin bee" can anyone help?

Here is the poem:

IF you were coming in the fall,
I ??d brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spurn,
As housewives do a fly.

If I could see you in a year,
I ??d wind the months in balls,
And put them each in separate drawers,
Until their time befalls.

If only centuries delayed,
I ??d count them on my hand,
Subtracting till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen??s land.

If certain, when this life was out,
That yours and mine should be,
I ??d toss it yonder like a rind,
And taste eternity.

But now, all ignorant of the length
Of time??s uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee,
That will not state its sting.

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks :)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Bees are a prevalent element of Dickinson's image repertoire. Sometimes they are used as symbols of industry, sometimes symbols of summer and plenty, sometimes of time's passing. It seems like the latter is one of the meanings here - time flies, but like a malevolent bee, will not make clear when something will occur.

On the other hand, the "goblin" may not be malevolent, but just uncanny, as the speaker _wants_ the sting - which is the moment in which she will see the person that the poem is addressed to. In the penultimate stanza, that moment is linked with death (ie: the speaker and the addressee will meet after death), giving rise to the painful image of the meeting being a sting.

The rhyme of wing and sting is also curious, as it raises the question of what the "it" in the final stanza refers to - is it "time" or "time's uncertain wing"? If it's the latter, then it's hard to see how the wing becomes a bee.

There is also the insect image chain to consider: in the first stanza, the speaker can brush the summer away "As housewives do a fly." By the end, the speaker is passive and time is on the attack, as it has become more uncanny and threatening through the poem (the speaker's fingers drop off like centuries in stanza 3, for example).

The alliteration of "state its sting," with its staccato 't's, (like little skin pricks) also draws to attention the oddness of the image - how does a bee 'state its sting' - by showing it? By using it? But it also seems to have already stung, as "goad" is another word used for insect bites and stings. But "state" does not necessarily mean "say." It comes from a root meaning 'place' or 'stand' (as in "reinstate"). So time will not put its sting in place - it won't bring "time's sting," which is death (in the Bible, I'm sure this phrase is used).

Consider also that, when a bee stings, it dies. So, if we read the "it" as referring to "time's uncertain wing," we could say that "time refuses to give up its uncertainty, by stinging and therefore dying."

Emily Dickinson also wrote many drafts of her poems, and sometimes the published version you are looking at will not be the only one available. Check Thomas H. Johnson's "Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson" for other potential versions. You could also look at a concordance of her work (a concordance lists all the words used by a particular author, how many times they are used, and in which texts) to see other uses of the words goblin, bee, state and sting.