A Lady red — amid the Hill
Her annual secret keeps!
A Lady white, within the Field
In placid Lily sleeps!

The tidy Breezes, with their Brooms —
Sweep vale — and hill — and tree!
Prithee, My pretty Housewives!
Who may expected be?

The Neighbors do not yet suspect!
The Woods exchange a smile!
Orchard, and Buttercup, and Bird —
In such a little while!

And yet, how still the Landscape stands!
How nonchalant the Hedge!
As if the “Resurrection”
Were nothing very strange!

Analysis, meaning and summary of Emily Dickinson's poem A Lady red — amid the Hill

3 Comments

  1. frumpo says:

    Spring, as a picture of the Resurrection.

  2. Jake says:

    Clearly, she has a double life as a prostitute. She even wonders who’s knocking at the door since non of the neighbors know her secret. Lily’s are a dead giveaway for the devil.

  3. Greg Spearing says:

    I’ve attempted divination of this enigmativic verse. I supposed the lady red to be a maple…the white to be snow..the annual secret is the future blossoms..

    On my first visit to her house in Amherst I looked for a hillside nearby…there is one though it’s impossible to know if there was a maple tree or etc..

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