The Treasure Hunt

Saturday January 18, 2014 9:04 am

First: to the only person who has written me in a very long time to ask about something I posted... well, I don't know for sure? However, I also believe it has to do with a long passage of time (one reason I like the poem) and snow is probably only a metaphor for gray hair? (A little snow was here and there disseminated in her hair.) So, I think you are right in that.

I think what makes poetry nice to read is that we don't always know what the writer meant and therefore it's open for personal interpretation and we usually take from it whatever it is that we brought to it? Sort of like two people hearing the same sermon... one might take something from it that's useful and another might have gotten zero from it? Most of the time it is because we brought nothing to it in the first place.

So, whether or not I brought anything to this in order to try and understand her poem is a moot point. But, I think it is about a man who has long loved the same girl who he never won. And Emily Dickinson uses the seasons to hide the passages of time. Notice that the “snow” (gray) is now in her hair, “since she and I had met and played.” So, I think that marks a long passage of time from when he first knew her when she was young and had no gray hair until now when there is just a little sprinkled “here and there.”

But, the man written about in this poem... and yep it is a man! Lol He thinks that when he looks at her that “time has added” to but not “obtained” (or lessened her beauty) and he thinks of her as a lovely “rose.” Notice that he believes the rose is “impregnable” and too “obdurate” for snows. Again, if snow is a metaphor for old age and gray hair, then this man believes his “rose” will always be beautiful! In his heart her beauty is unchanging, and I think that is proven by the line, “Too obdurate for snows.”

At least for him, his rose as she ages will only grow more... and not less beautiful. Only a couple of times have I ever tried to answer in a blog a question someone has asked me about a blog. But I reasoned there might be a few others who read the poem and also wondered about hidden meanings? I think all good writers... at least those I like best always have hidden thoughts in what they write.

Well, I'm off for work and I hope all who reads this has a very good day today!