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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
In Dickinson’s poetry, corn is a symbol often associated with death, harvest, and autumn. In her poem “There is a June when Corn is cut,” early corn harvest marks a too-brief summer. This is accompanied by the appearance of a “Grave” (Line 5) that appears in a similar position to “Corn” (Line 1); both are the second capitalized noun in the first line of their respective stanzas.
The macabre harvesting of corn in “There is a June when Corn is cut” recalls the corn that is owned by the farmer in “Fame is a fickle food.” The possessive “Farmer’s corn” implies that the corn is still on the stalk, where the crows can easily access it. Reading the “it” of Line 10’s “Men eat of it and die” as corn—the closest potential referent noun in Line 9—in addition to fame (the noun that was previously given the pronoun “it”) furthers the association between corn and death.
Also, for Dickinson—who never left Amherst—corn played an important symbolic role in her conception of the American pastoral. Midwestern states, rather than Dickinson’s home state of Massachusetts, contain the corn harvesters of America. The traditional British pastoral also does not include corn. Dickinson contributes to the creation of a pastoral tradition in America, one that is, in her case, specifically imagined from inside her New England home rather than experienced out in the fields of Iowa, Ohio, or Kansas.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson