[174] A Route of Evanescence

A Route of Evanescence
With a revolving Wheel--
A Resonance of Emerald--
A Rush of Cochineal--
And every Blossom on the Bush
Adjusts its tumbled Head--
The mail from Tunis, probably,
An easy Morning's Ride--

    -- Emily Dickinson

Like a minimalist painting, today's poem captures the essence of a scene
with a few, well chosen images. The fleeting blur of a train rushing by is
beautifully evoked by the almost fragmentary snapshots, gradually building
up into more complete images.

There's not really that much to say about it - you might like to compare it
to Stevenson's 'From a Railway Carriage'[1], a rather more detailed
treatment of the same theme.

[1] poem #84

Glossary:

  evanescence: The quality of being evanescent; tendency to vanish away.
  cochineal: The colour of cochineal-dye, scarlet.

Dickinson-related stuff: poem #92

From: betty <bjvanslyke@>

This poem is about a hummingbird.  It hovers, it's colors flashing, then
darts away.  Hummingbird wings really do revolve.

In the first four lines, her use of words beginning with "R" suggests a
wrrrrrrreing sound of how the bird rushes about. Her reference to the mail
fromn Tunis describes how effortlessly and quickly the bird moves. 

In Johnson's book, it is listed by first line and also in Subject Index
under Humming Bird.

Betty Van Slyke

From: =?ks_c_5601-1987?B?seix5sHf?= <kkj@>

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b3duIG5lYXIgd2hlcmUgRUQgbGl2ZWQ/IG9yIGRvZXMgdGhpcyByZWZlciB0byB0aGUgYW5jaWVu
dCBjaXR5IGluIE5vcnRoIEFmcmljYT8

From: LeMoNaPs@

Hi,
I am a college student in Alabama, and I am desperately trying to find 
research on "A Route of Evanesence", by Emily Dickinson. Do you have any advice to 
send me somewhere or a book that you know has substantial information in it 
about the poem. Please email me back as soon as possible. Thank you. -Ashlee

From: "Chris Good" <cwgood@>

I think this is a very good poem.  Emily Dickinson is one of my favorite
authors.

Advice to Ashlee: search the internet if I were you I would check out
some books out of a library on it
good luck :)

     ***Caitie***

From: DOkum2@

Betty correctly identified the subject of this poem as a hummingbird. How  
could anyone think it is about a train when it describes the blossoms from which 
 the hummingbird is drinking?

Toby Shandy

From: "yuri torres" <melaza25@>

The last tow lines of the poem say it all.  Hummingbirds do not migrate
to North Africa, witch tells us that she is riding her bike to the
mailbox.  She describes how the bird is getting ready for a long ride
south: by eating insects; she knows that her ride to the mailbox is an
easy one compare to the hummingbird's journey.

Yuri