"We like March.

" By Emily Dickinson [Analysis]

We like March. [1] His Shoes are Purple -- [2] He is new and high -- [3] Makes he Mud for Dog and Peddler. [4] Makes he Forests dry. [5] Knows the Adder Tongue his coming [6] And presents her Spot -- [7] Stands the Sun so close and mighty [8] That our Minds are hot. [9] News is he of all the others -- [10] Bold it were to die [11] With the Blue Birds exercising [12] On his British Sky. [13] --- [14] We like March -- his shoes are Purple. [15] He is new and high -- [16] Makes he Mud for Dog and Peddler -- [17] Makes he Forests Dry -- [18] Knows the Adder's Tongue his coming [19] And begets her spot -- [20] Stands the Sun so close and mighty -- [21] That our Minds are hot. [22] News is he of all the others -- [23] Bold it were to die [24] With the Blue Birds buccaneering [25] On his British sky -- [26]
Poem 1213 [F1194] "We like March" Analysis by David Preest [Poem]

Emily returns to her favourite month of March, described earlier in poem 736. Line 2 'purple': denoting majesty. See poems 776 and 980. Line 3 'high': perhaps referring to March's high, windy skies after the low mists and frosts of February. Lines 4-5: his rain makes the road muddy, while his winds dry out the winter branches of the trees. Line 10: March, 'that month of Proclamation (L976),' announces that all the other months of spring and summer are coming. Lines 11-13: it would be a brave thing to die in March when the Blue Birds were in the sky. 'British' is perhaps chosen just for the alliteration, especially as 'exercising' was changed to 'buccaneering' in the later version of the poem. Emily herself died on 15 May.
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