"At Half past Three, a single Bird"

By Emily Dickinson
[Analysis]
At Half past Three, a single Bird [1]
Unto a silent Sky [2]
Propounded but a single term [3]
Of cautious melody. [4]
At Half past Four, Experiment [5]
Had subjugated test [6]
And lo, Her silver Principle [7]
Supplanted all the rest. [8]
At Half past Seven, Element [9]
Nor Implement, be seen -- [10]
And Place was where the Presence was [11]
Circumference between. [12]
Poem 1084 [F1099]
"At Half past Three, a single Bird"
Analysis by David Preest
[Poem]
At 3.30 am Emily heard a bird trying out one 'cautious melody.' By 4.30 the bird had found by repeated tests that 'silver Principle' of song
which it was seeking. At 7.30 there was no sign of the 'Element' (= the song) or of the 'Implement' (= the bird), but only an empty 'Place'
where their 'Presence' had been, the 'Circumference' of a circle now marking that place off from the rest of the world to which the bird had
gone.
Despite her protests in poems 13 and 112, Emily is still apparently being woken early by her father. She sent a copy of this poem to Dr
Holland, who as editor chose poems to include in Scribner's magazine, and Richard Sewall points out how different is this unincluded
poem of hers from such included lines as
Hops the sparrow, blithe, sedate
Who, with meekly folded wing,
Comes to sun himself and sing.
Top