A Moth the hue of this

A Moth the hue of this
Haunts Candles in Brazil.
Nature's Experience would make
Our Reddest Second pale.

Nature is fond, I sometimes think,
Of Trinkets, as a Girl.

    - F944, J841, sheet 18, 1865


This poem recalls one of Dickinson’s earliest extant poems, F32, written  seven years before this one (according to Franklin’s system of dating the poems). In that poem the poet puts a trinket on to be in keeping with the fashion of autumn. 

It’s fascinating to see the threads that Dickinson weaves through her work. In F541 Dickinson wrote about Butterflies in Brazil. In F687 the “Mighty Merchant” offers the poet Brazil in exchange for what she really wants. Trinkets, butterflies and Brazil are all part of Dickinson’s vast Lexicon. They all symbolize something essential to her.

 A Moth the hue of this
Haunts Candles in Brazil.

This poem starts out with a mystery pronoun, “this.” We never find out what "this" is. It's a riddle. The way the syntax unravels makes it unclear if Dickinson is referring to an actual moth. It could be read "A Moth the hue of this (one)/ Haunts Candles in Brazil," or "this" might refer to something else. I think it is something else, something with a hue so beautiful it is as if it is a moth haunting Candles in Brazil. It’s a disorienting and bewitching way to begin a poem. Dickinson is the master of this kind of move. The “This” is hereby elevated to the level of ineffable possibility, just as "It” was in the poem previous to this one, F943.

I’m curious what specific hue it is that Dickinson is comparing to a moth that “haunts Candles in Brazil.” I swoon thinking about it. My best guess is that she is referring to the flush of a lover’s skin, because what else would so haunt Dickinson’s Candle?

The idea of a moth haunting a candle is such a brilliant reversal. Normally the moth is drawn to the flame, but here the moth is the trinket, the object of desire. We always assume that it's the moth that is drawn to the flame, but maybe we have it backwards?

Nature's Experience would make
Our Reddest Second pale.

This poem is made up of three distinct, but interconnected couplets. All three are worthy enough to stand on their own. In this middle phrase we have the amazing idea of a "Reddest Second" of our lives. What is your Reddest Second? Try to recall it. Are you blushing? Dickinson points out to us that this moment, however red it may have been for us, pales in comparison to the full experience of Nature Herself. That is a humbling and awesome thought. 

And yet, 

Nature is fond, I sometimes think,
Of Trinkets, as a Girl.

As below, so above.

This poem appears to be, in part, about the erotic attraction of beauty. There's something almost flirtatious about it. The moth is attracted to the candle; Nature is attracted to beauty; the girl is attracted to ornaments. Everything is being pulled toward beauty. 

A trinket often has the connotation of something of low value, something trivial and frivolous. But hold on. In this poem the stakes are high, life and death. We have the death of the moth due to the flame and all the human drama this implies. 

So is Natural beauty in this poem being lowered to the level of a trinket? Or is the trinket being raised to the level of a prime mover? 

        -/)dam Wade l)eGraff

P.S. Meanwhile, what about that red moth from Brazil?

Here's one:

 



And here are a few more incredible moths, all quite stunning examples of Nature's trinkets.