"The Bird did prance -- the Bee did play --"

By Emily Dickinson
[Analysis]
The Bird did prance -- the Bee did play -- [1]
The Sun ran miles away [2]
So blind with joy he could not choose [3]
Between his Holiday [4]
The morn was up -- the meadows out [5]
The Fences all but ran, [6]
Republic of Delight, I thought [7]
Where each is Citizen -- [8]
From Heavy laden Lands to thee [9]
Were seas to cross to come [10]
A Caspian were crowded -- [11]
Too near thou art for Fame -- [12]
Poem 1107 [F1147]
"The Bird did prance -- the Bee did play"
Analysis by David Preest
[Poem]
Emily describes the 'Republic of Delight' which is a summer morning. The sun, for example, was so 'blind with joy he could not choose'
any particular place for his holiday. If dwellers in 'Heavy laden Lands' were only able to reach this 'Republic of Delight' by crossing seas,
the Caspian and other seas would be crowded. But as this Republic is on everybody's doorstep, it is not famous.
Judith Farr points out how the rapid movement in the first two stanzas of this poem contrasts with the stolidity of poem 1102.
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