"It's all I have to bring today--" & "We alone"
Emily Dickinson & Alice Walker both talk about "Valuables" in their own special ways.
All people value things, but for some people the things that are valuable to them are different than what you may value. In the two poems “It’s all I have to bring today--” by Emily Dickinson and “We Alone” by Alice Walker, the theme expressed is: common things should be considered valuable. Though these two poems share the same theme, each does it in its own unique way using imagery, repetition statements, and the focus of the speaker.
Poems are meant to be read aloud, however when reading a poem people always seem to make an image in their head of the speaker of the poem. The poem “It’s all I have to bring today--” may create the image of a girl strolling through the meadows, giddy with joy. She is full of love and joy, and she brings something to the meadows, something with meaning to her. She brings her love. Just by saying, “Be sure to count--should I forget/ Someone the sum could tell--/This and my heart, and all the Bees,”(Dickinson) the speaker’s words create a kindness that the girl must possess. “It’s all I have to bring today--” can create different images in people’s minds; however, these are likely to be similar in some ways. When reading the poem a bright, sunny day may come to mind, with birds and bees flying around a wide, beautiful meadow covered in flowers being blown in the wind. Smelling like fresh flowers and bees. By using simple sentences like, “And all the meadows wide--” Dickinson is able to portray a beautiful, wide meadow into the minds of the readers. She goes on to say “This, and my heart, and all the Bees/ Which in the Clover dwell.” This creates the beautiful atmosphere of the meadows. “It’s all I have to bring today--” (Dickinson) is repeated many times in the poem showing that there is great meaning or importance to the words, but why are they important? These words are important to the speaker because what the speaker is bringing with her may be very valuable to her. Some may think that what she is bringing with her is love, it may not be valuable to all people but it is to her.
“We Alone” by Alice Walker creates the same theme, but the imagery, speaker, and repetition is all very different. When reading this poem you may think of a busy city where all people think about is money, money, money, or in this case gold; however, as the poem goes on it may create a different scenery. It may lead to a peaceful beach with the sound of the tides hitting the shore. Filled with the smell of the salty water of the ocean. The speaker is also very different in this poem. In the beginning, they sound frustrated with the world around them because all everyone is think about is money, when the speaker knows that there is more to life and there are things that are more valuable than gold. “And if you chain is gold/ so much the worse for you,”(Walker) in other words, if your life [chain] is just based around money [gold] then you do not truly have anything worth value. The speaker seems smart, they are a thinker. This is shown because of their thought behind what is truly valuable, not gold but “feathers, shells, and sea shaped stones are all as rare.”(Walker) In “We Alone” the repetition may be hard to see at first, but in line 5 there is a beginning to a repetition. “Wherever there is gold/there is a chain, you know,/ and if your chain/ is gold/ so much the worse/ for you.”(Walker) This repetition is similar to “It’s all I have to bring today--” because this repetition is a very important point that the speaker is trying to drill into the readers mind. The speaker is trying to point out that if your life is based around gold or money it’s not going to have value because value is found in many other things that do not lead to greed like money can. Value can be found in the smallest things.
Even though these two poems may sound polar opposite in the beginning, if you really think about the meaning and theme that the two authors, Emily Dickinson and Alice Walker, are trying to get across you see similarities. Though there are differences you can find many points that are the same. Both writings use the focal point of how common things should be valuable. After reading these two poems, when value is to be defined, how will you define it?
Poems are meant to be read aloud, however when reading a poem people always seem to make an image in their head of the speaker of the poem. The poem “It’s all I have to bring today--” may create the image of a girl strolling through the meadows, giddy with joy. She is full of love and joy, and she brings something to the meadows, something with meaning to her. She brings her love. Just by saying, “Be sure to count--should I forget/ Someone the sum could tell--/This and my heart, and all the Bees,”(Dickinson) the speaker’s words create a kindness that the girl must possess. “It’s all I have to bring today--” can create different images in people’s minds; however, these are likely to be similar in some ways. When reading the poem a bright, sunny day may come to mind, with birds and bees flying around a wide, beautiful meadow covered in flowers being blown in the wind. Smelling like fresh flowers and bees. By using simple sentences like, “And all the meadows wide--” Dickinson is able to portray a beautiful, wide meadow into the minds of the readers. She goes on to say “This, and my heart, and all the Bees/ Which in the Clover dwell.” This creates the beautiful atmosphere of the meadows. “It’s all I have to bring today--” (Dickinson) is repeated many times in the poem showing that there is great meaning or importance to the words, but why are they important? These words are important to the speaker because what the speaker is bringing with her may be very valuable to her. Some may think that what she is bringing with her is love, it may not be valuable to all people but it is to her.
“We Alone” by Alice Walker creates the same theme, but the imagery, speaker, and repetition is all very different. When reading this poem you may think of a busy city where all people think about is money, money, money, or in this case gold; however, as the poem goes on it may create a different scenery. It may lead to a peaceful beach with the sound of the tides hitting the shore. Filled with the smell of the salty water of the ocean. The speaker is also very different in this poem. In the beginning, they sound frustrated with the world around them because all everyone is think about is money, when the speaker knows that there is more to life and there are things that are more valuable than gold. “And if you chain is gold/ so much the worse for you,”(Walker) in other words, if your life [chain] is just based around money [gold] then you do not truly have anything worth value. The speaker seems smart, they are a thinker. This is shown because of their thought behind what is truly valuable, not gold but “feathers, shells, and sea shaped stones are all as rare.”(Walker) In “We Alone” the repetition may be hard to see at first, but in line 5 there is a beginning to a repetition. “Wherever there is gold/there is a chain, you know,/ and if your chain/ is gold/ so much the worse/ for you.”(Walker) This repetition is similar to “It’s all I have to bring today--” because this repetition is a very important point that the speaker is trying to drill into the readers mind. The speaker is trying to point out that if your life is based around gold or money it’s not going to have value because value is found in many other things that do not lead to greed like money can. Value can be found in the smallest things.
Even though these two poems may sound polar opposite in the beginning, if you really think about the meaning and theme that the two authors, Emily Dickinson and Alice Walker, are trying to get across you see similarities. Though there are differences you can find many points that are the same. Both writings use the focal point of how common things should be valuable. After reading these two poems, when value is to be defined, how will you define it?