Nobody knows this little Rose —
It might a pilgrim be
Did I not take it from the ways
And lift it up to thee.
Only a Bee will miss it —
Only a Butterfly,
Hastening from far journey —
On its breast to lie —
Only a Bird will wonder —
Only a Breeze will sigh —
Ah Little Rose — how easy
For such as thee to die!

Analysis, meaning and summary of Emily Dickinson's poem Nobody knows this little Rose

75 Comments

  1. karl says:

    This is probably the worst poem ever. It was so boring. I really dont know what you people were thinking when you read this. Like one person said “most people notice you when your dead” okay…. make something great in your life and people will notice you. When you die your remembered. duh.

  2. Sonia says:

    This poem is my favorite ever. I just read it, and it’s awesome!

  3. Ashley Barber says:

    This poem was great it really touched me on a personal level it’s wonderful she really it’s true to her discriptions maybe someday I will be as famous with my poetry as she was………

  4. richel says:

    this is a verry nice one!!! i like it a lot because it is full of meaning, it is very deep!

  5. Darren says:

    The poem shoes thta a person has sooo many talents and is able to acheive the impossible, but no body knows it yet… I really like it!!!!!

  6. Ankit Grover says:

    i like this poem

  7. Some Dude says:

    through its use of words, images, and sound poetry can provide us with new ways of thinking about ordinary events, feelings, and momentous occasions. In short, poetry helps us to understand about life. Emily Dickinson polished her use of words and phrases over many years and will be renowned for it until our society loses all interest in the written word.
    P.S.(Australia=lame)

  8. angela says:

    this speaks to me !! i love it i realy think this one is the best !!!out of all her poems 🙂

  9. Suada Numanovich says:

    Most people only get noticed after death !
    So, we take a lessons from this poem.
    Thanks to you Emily Dickinson…..

  10. stacy says:

    I am not a big fan of poetry, but when I came across this poem and really thought about it, I actually understood it. It is one of the shortest yet deepest things I have ever read. It made me realize that things or people can go through life without being noticed and it is very sad.

  11. Phyliss says:

    The poem has the Little Rose as its protagonist. It’s beautiful, sensual and sad.

  12. Lacy says:

    I think Emily was trying to convince herself that she didn’t need people. (Make sure you read her poem about being a nobody.) The rose represents herself. She wrote such beautiful poetry, without ever seeing it really reach the public. She was probably secluding herself in the same way people like me feel guilty about shopping at Walmart. She didn’t want to contribute to the shallow masses. She lived on principle, perhaps thinking it wasn’t really making much of a difference. But Emily’s roselike poetry did eventually matter.
    Can you tell I’m going through essay writing withdrawl?

  13. Courtney says:

    This poem is one of my favorites. A couple years ago I had a friend who sang this poem as a song for a compitetion and it went great!

  14. Donielle says:

    This poem is beautiful, and the critics don’t need to comment on it. If you critisize this poem, then you don’t understand the beauty of it, and then you mightbe in the position of the rose!!! Except life, even though sometimes you feel like you are the only one in it and no one else cares. (No one cares if you are stupid enough to critisize this beautiful poem, you are the rose!, except there aren’t any bees or butterflies!)

  15. Andrey says:

    This poem is awesome, i read most of these comments, well yes i was bored and have to do it for my hmwk, but still. Some say that how it says that its easy for a person to die, or that when people die someone for sure will miss them like their family. Or that the person isnt know for its beauty until u show ppl him… but this is my idea of it: Think about artists, and poets, what happens to them during their life. They paint, and create poems. Sometimes they get noticed, but mostly dont. Most of the famous artist and poets are noticed after their death. She is saying when the rose is picked, it dies right away, but then people notice it. So basicaly my idea is that she was talking about her life, how she wont be known until after death, when someone picks her up and displays her. Well this could help some ppl do research so u r welcome

  16. Christina says:

    This poem is so deep! I thinl that she is a wounderful writer and he poems are so analogus!!!

  17. Emily says:

    i love this poem its always been my favorite!!!

  18. Loretta says:

    My son, who ALWAYS picks flowers for me shocked me when *I* picked HIM the last flower of the season from our garden. I thought it was great to give him the last flower, but as I handed it to him, his eyes turned down in sadness, and in his sweet little four year old voice he said, “Oh How SAD! Now the flower will die!”
    I almost cried.
    I think what Emily did was pick a flower and then she immediatly feel like my little Johnny did. She did the only thing she could to honor that beautiful rose, write this poem. I bet she never picked another flower again. I never will.

  19. YEPWI DANIEL says:

    wow!i think the poem is so deep,so much crammed in one thought.if the birds,breeze,bees and buterfly were unhappy,who then would be?

  20. Moby says:

    I like this poem alot it shows that alot of things go unoticed. The simple beauty of the rose was lost when it died. No one noticed it before it died and thats just sad.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Emily Dickinson better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.