Corn
– is made at Noon –
After
dinner light – for flowers –
Dukes
– for setting sun!
F223
(1861) 197
![]() |
The Duke out for dinner after sunset |
Dickinson was a nature lover even from within the perimeters of her home and town. She
traveled few times in her youth
and twenties but soon became a stay-at-home – eventually never leaving her
property at all! But one can see quite a bit from home – or at least one can in
rural areas or in 19th-Century towns. And so Dickinson would
encounter the morning dew as she wandered outside in the morning. At noon she
could watch the heat begin to ripen the corn in her garden. “Dinner” here would
refer to the midday meal. After dinner, then would be the full heat of the day
when all the flowers have opened up and turned their faces to the sun.
But
all that natural stuff falls by the wayside when it comes to sunsets. Their royal
reds, golds, and purples suggest nothing less than dukedom.
But
to be fair, Dickinson may well be referring to the great eagle-owl of Europe, Bubo
maximus – a
relative of the Great Horned Owl – who was known as a Duke owl. That’s more
likely and more in keeping with the poem, isn’t it? And this Duke would indeed
come out after the sun sets in order to hunt down his dinner.
Dear Susan
ReplyDeleteI am surprised to hear that Duke is an owl! Thank you for sharing the information.
How did you find out that the eagle-owl is known as a Duke owl?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember exactly, but I think it was when I Google image searching for dukes and sunset. I do remember I was pretty excited.
DeleteThe ED lexicon does have this meaning for duke but for some reason does not have this poem as a reference for it.
Delete