Emily Dickinson’s seventeen-line poem, “The Robin's my Criterion for Tune,” contains a famous line that the poet used to describe her world-view, “Because I see—New Englandly.” And because she looked with the eyes of an American New Englander, she dramatizes the things she sees and experiences in her neck of the woods with pride of place.
As readers have encountered in other poems, Dickinson sometimes writes from the perspective of invented characters, but in this poem she is being quite herself, even as the likens herself to “The Queen,” and claims that the monarch “discerns like me— / Provincially.”
“The Robin's my Criterion for Tune”
The speaker says that because she was born and raised where robins hold court, she deems that type of bird her “Criterion for Tune.” And she readily admits that she knows her bias but adds that if she were born where the “Cuckoo” abounds, that bird would be her standard, and she would “swear by him.” But for her it is the robin’s “ode familiar” that “rules the Noon.”
“The Buttercup's, my Whim for Bloom”
In addition to claiming a bird favorite, she also has determined that she is partial to the buttercup, because “we’re Orchard sprung.” She lives on large plot of land that has an orchard and in springtime, she is treated to the first signs of spring arising in the lovely little welcoming yellow flower.
“But, were I Britain born”
The speaker then claims if she had been born in Britain, she would not particularly appreciate the daisy, but she would take kindly to the nut tree, which ripening in October and “dropping [the nuts]” causes the “Seasons” to hurry by—at least that is what she was “taught.” She extends the information that she knows about other places only second-hand, allowing her readers to determine the degree to which they accept her take on things.
“Without the Snow's Tableau”
The speaker then concludes by averring that for the season to be winter for her, she must have snow. She has, of course, also read in her geography books that some places on earth, even in her own country, do not experience that cold, white-powder precipitation.
The speaker understands that people who are considered “provincial” are deemed uneducated, unsophisticated, and even boring. But the speaker also realizes that there is much sense in provinciality; she knows herself to be a deep thinker, one who is capable of making much of little, and she specializes in details and their meanings.
But she also thinks it useful to have a companion in this undesirable lot, so she chooses the queen. If she has to be considered provincial, then she has good company. Both she and the queen “discern,” and even if they do so provincially, at least they do so discriminately.
 |
