Her smile was
shaped like other smiles—
The Dimples
ran along—
And still it
hurt you, as some Bird
Did hoist
herself, to sing,
Then
recollect a Ball, she got—
And hold upon
the Twig,
Convulsive,
while the Music broke—
Like
Beads—among the Bog –
A happy
lip—breaks sudden—
It doesn’t
state you how
It
contemplated—smiling—
Just
consummated—now –
But this one,
wears its merriment
So patient—like
a pain—
Fresh
gilded—to elude the eyes
Unqualified,
to scan—
F335
(1862) 514
We know the
faces and expressions of those dear to us and so it is that we can often
discern pain and suffering behind an otherwise unremarkable smile. Dickinson
vividly describes such a smile in this poem. She begins as if telling a story:
“Her smile was shaped like other smiles,” with its dimples on either side. Yet
rather than pleasure, this smile brought pain to the knowing eye. Dickinson
describes this pain as something we might experience if we watched a bird
singing, perched on a small twig, and then being shot. As the bullet, or
“Ball,” hits it the bird convulses and its song breaks up “Like Beads—among the
Bog.” It’s a powerful image. We see the friend’s smile as precarious as that
bird’s hold on its perch with a bullet aimed its way. The image of the song as
beads scattered in the mud is particularly vivid.
Dickinson implies by this imagery
that the friend is artistic, full of the love of life. To see this person smile
with such trauma facing it is painful.
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The smile that's hard to see: 1st Lady of South Carolina, Jenny Sanford, smiling through the news of her husband's infidelity |
In the second stanza Dickinson
contrasts the real smile with the brave, false one. The truly happy smile
“breaks sudden”—it springs naturally from delight or joy, is “consummated” on
the spot. The observer sees a spontaneous action. The false smile, however, is
“contemplated.” The smiler decides to smile. The “merriment” is worn patiently
and “gilded” on the face as if it were a painting. Dickinson pairs the wearing
of such a smile with pain: both are “patient” rather than spontaneous. The
false smile is a mask so that the pain is not seen by those “Unqualified” or
not a close friend.
Dickinson effectively uses
alliteration in the first stanza: “the Music broke / Like Beads—among
the Bog.” Those Bs pop out of the poem as the bullet that killed the
singing bird.
Thank you, I couldn't understand the action in the first stanza, not knowing that Ball meant bullet.
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