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  • Analysis: "A Science - So The Savants Say," by Emily Dickinson

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    This poem analyzes Emily Dickinson's poem "A science - so the Savants say". It notes that while Dickinson is more respectful of science here than in another poem, she does not grant scientists superiority over ordinary observers of nature. Just as a scientist can infer details about a whole organism from a single bone, an observer of nature can infer the coming spring from a single flower like a dandelion. The analysis suggests the flower referenced is likely a dandelion based on other Dickinson poems.

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    100_ScienceSoTheSavantsSayA

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    This poem analyzes Emily Dickinson's poem "A science - so the Savants say". It notes that while Dickinson is more respectful of science here than in another poem, she does not grant scientists superiority over ordinary observers of nature. Just as a scientist can infer details about a whole organism from a single bone, an observer of nature can infer the coming spring from a single flower like a dandelion. The analysis suggests the flower referenced is likely a dandelion based on other Dickinson poems.

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    20 views1 page

    Analysis: "A Science - So The Savants Say," by Emily Dickinson

    Uploaded by

    naphelge
    This poem analyzes Emily Dickinson's poem "A science - so the Savants say". It notes that while Dickinson is more respectful of science here than in another poem, she does not grant scientists superiority over ordinary observers of nature. Just as a scientist can infer details about a whole organism from a single bone, an observer of nature can infer the coming spring from a single flower like a dandelion. The analysis suggests the flower referenced is likely a dandelion based on other Dickinson poems.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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    "A science -- so the Savants say," By Emily Dickinson [Analysis]

    A science -- so the Savants say,[1] "Comparative Anatomy" --[2] By which a single bone --[3] Is made a secret to unfold[4] Of some rare tenant of the mold,[5] Else perished in the stone --[6] So to the eye prospective led,[7] This meekest flower of the mead[8] Upon a winter's day,[9] Stands representative in gold[10] Of Rose and Lily, manifold,[11] And countless Butterfly![12]
    Poem 100 [F147] "A science - so the Savants say" Analysis by David Preest [Poem]

    Emily is more respectful of the Savants of Science here than in poem 70, but she still does not grant them any superiority over the ordinary observer of nature. A scientist from a single bone may be able to give a description of the whole corpse buried in earth or tomb, but similarly the observer of nature who is on the lookout for it can infer from a single flower the manifold glories of the spring which are to follow. Johnson's index suggests that 'the meekest flower of the mead' is the dandelion. This seems likely, for 'little Leontodon' wakes first in spring both in poem 142 and in Emily's letter (L81) to her friend Abbiah Root where she says, 'as soon as the first green grass comes, up from a chink in the stones peeps a little flower, precious "leontodon."
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