Emily Dickinson

(1830 – 1886)
 "Why Do I Love" You, Sir? *

"Why do I love" You, Sir?

Because--
The Wind does not require the Grass
To answer—Wherefore when He pass
She cannot keep Her place.

Because He knows—and
Do not You--
And We know not--
Enough for Us
The Wisdom it be so--

The Lightning—never asked an Eye

Wherefore it shut—when He was by--
Because He knows it cannot speak--
And reasons not contained--
—Of Talk--
There be—preferred by Daintier Folk--

The Sunrise—Sire—compelleth Me--

Because He's Sunrise—and I see--
Therefore—Then--
I love Thee--

*Note on the writing and publication dates:The poem "Why Do I Love

You, Sir?" by Emily Dickinson was written in 1862, but it was not first
published until 1929.
Notes on Emily Dickinson’s poetry in general:

In subject matter Emily Dickinson was very similar to the great romantic poets of her time. Her poems
are short, many of them being based on a single image or symbol. However, within her little lyrics she
wrote about some of the most important themes in life: love, nature, morality and immortality. She
wrote about success, which she thought she never achieved; and she wrote about failure, which she
considered her constant companion. She wrote of these things so brilliantly that she is now ranked as
one of American’s greatest poets.
Poetry is for Dickinson a means to attain pleasure, a way to preach her doctrine, and a medium to
express her world outlook, an outlet for her despair and a remedy to pacify her soul. Her life experience
fostered her belief as an existentialist as well as a great poet.
Living in the nineteenth century, a comparatively religious era, she did not belong to any organized
religion. However, she wrote of God, man and nature; she probed into the spiritual unrest of man and
often doubted about the existence and benevolence of God, because she felt that wild nature was her
church and she was able to converse directly with God there. Emily Dickinson was a poet who could
express feelings of deepest poignancy in terms of the true and wide sayings, often in an aphoristic style.
Her gemlike poems are all very short, but fresh and original, marked by the vigor of her images, the
daring of her thought and the beauty of her expression.

Notes on “ ‘Why do I Love’, You Sir” by Emily Dickinson

Context: Emily Dickinson wrote these poems in solitude, and never let any of them get published. A lot
of letters to her father and sister-in-law were these poems, which were later published by them. This
poem is one of her scribbles about the man she admired and loved. She never wrote any poem with a
title; hence, they were given numbers and the first line of all the poems were kept as the title.

In this poem, the poet is expressing her love and admiration towards a man, the name which she has not
mentioned, by giving beautiful metaphors from nature. Emily’s poems would definitely have a touch of
nature in it. From the poem, it is clear that she admires this man, and his aura overpowers hers. There
are some strong and beautiful metaphors like “lightning” and “sunrise” to describe his effect on her.
She secretly loves this person, but is not sure if the person shares similar feelings for her. However, she
knows that he is aware how enchanted she is by his charm. She says that there is no language or way
they can talk to express their feelings, as words seem to be impotent for them here. She is mesmerized
by him, and adores him. He is like the sunrise for him, which brings a new day and new hope for her.

Figurative language:

In the first stanza it says that even though the wind "speaks" to the grass it does not need it to "talk
back", and that when her "love interest" passes by her she just cannot stay still. She knows that both the
reader and the man she is writing to knows about her feelings, but she says that we do not have enough
wisdom to truly know. She tells the reader that since lightening never asked the eye to shut when it
flashed because the lightening knows that the eye cannot speak. She means that only fairies can speak
such things. She states that only with the sunrise can she see that she loves this man because he is the
sunrise to her.
Literary devices:

She uses little external rhyme, she does not keep to a "normal" meter or even internal rhyme. Emily
does not use many literary devices at all. She uses unconventional capitalization, slant rhyme, and
unconventional punctuation. She writes mostly in prose for all her poems and even neglects to have a
title for many of them.

Interpretation

Stanza 1-

“Why do I love” You, Sir?-a

Because—-b
The Wind does not require the Grass-c
To answer—Wherefore when He pass-c
She cannot keep Her place.-d

Stanza 2-

Because He knows—and-a
Do not You—-b
And We know not—-c
Enough for Us-d
The Wisdom it be so—-b

This way, the rhyming scheme of each stanza is different from the rest, which is one of the traits of Emily
Dickinson’s poems. She never follows a definite rhyming scheme in her poems. The poem has many words in
title casing, which means that those words are important in the poem, and add weight to the context. For
example,

Because He knows—and-a
Do not You—-b
And We know not—-c
Enough for Us-d
The Wisdom it be so

This is one of the techniques that the poet uses to emphasize on particular words, to draw attention of the reader
towards it and to understand the importance of the words there. This helps the readers to understand the
meaning of the poem and the poet’s expression better. There are a lot of punctuations in this poem, which helps
the poet to channelize her expressions, giving directions for the readers on where to pause, and where to put
more emphasis. This helps the readers to understand the flow of the poem and expressions of the poet. For
example:

The Sunrise—Sire—compellethMe—
Because He’s Sunrise—and I see—
Therefore—Then—
I love Thee—

All of the dashes in this stanza are the places where the poet wants the readers to pause. This gives a meaning to
the poem, or else it is difficult to understand what the poet means to say in the poem.
Themes:
This poem is an articulation of Dickinson’s romantic feelings towards this anonymous man,
who is swept her off feet, by his charms and aura. The poet is not sure if this man thinks in the
same way for her, but she is sure that the man is aware of her feelings. He is like the lightning
in the horizon which her hers look at; he is like the sunrise in the horizon which enchants her.
She believes that there are no words that they could use to tell about their feelings to each other.

Deep Meaning: The deep meaning of this poem is that the poet is in love with this anonymous
man, who has mesmerized her and enchanted her with his charms. She admires this man, but
she is not sure if the man feels the same way towards her. However, she knows that he is aware
of her feelings. She adores him, and her love for him is pure and deep.

Emily Dickinson's Life (December 10, 1830-May 15, 1886)

Overview:

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a well off family with strong
community ties. She lived a mostly reclusive life.. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became
known for her inclination for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even
leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence. While
Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were
published during her lifetime. The work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered
significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time. Dickinson's poems are
unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant
rhyme as well as unusual capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with themes of death
and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends. Although most of her acquaintances were
probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was not until after her death in 1886—when Lavinia, Emily's
younger sister, discovered her collection of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson's work became
apparent. A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry was made available for the first
time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinson was published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson.
Despite unfavorable reviews and skepticism of her literary prowess during the late 19th and early 20th
century, critics now consider Dickinson to be a major American poet.

Young life:

She was known as a well-behaved child who was quite intelligent and interested in music. Her interest
in death began when she witnessed a close friend die of typhus. She met many of her correspondents in
her school years. She had a short "coming to Jesus" stage in her life and fell away from that in a few
years. She went from schools to home and then to a different school. This is probably and early sign of
her reclusive tendencies. She was greatly influenced by professors and other authors in her early years
that changed and created her style of writing.
Later life:

Her seclusion was finally absolute when an old principal died of "brain congestion". After this incident
her writing also became filled with the macabre. There are many theories about why she was so
reclusive but that point in time was the most fruitful for her writings. She did not saw why she wore
white, but she soon came to be known as "the woman in white". Emily might have been holed up in her
home, but she was not unsocial. We know this through her letters to her friends. She was also an
excellent botanist, having studied the science at age nine. The last years of her life were plagued with
deaths. Her health declined when she fainted whilst baking, she never fully recovered from this
episode. She is said to have died of Bright's Disease, a sort of kidney disease. As a final request, she
was carried though fields of buttercups to the family plot.
Publication:

She only had a dozen or so of her poems published. Even then they were heavily altered. After her
death a family member found a complete collection of her writings and became obsessed with getting
them published. This was accomplished though The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson in 1981.