I saw someone on TikTok ranting about how much they hate March. The TikToker mentioned an Emily Dickinson poem, “Dear March- Come in-“, and claimed it was a big fat lie. I’d never heard the poem before and obviously had to look up it. This is one of the reasons I like TikTok- I’m always learning new things! Now, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I completely disagree with this creator’s assessment of March and Dickinson’s poem.
March is a magical month; it’s intense, chaotic, fresh, and messy. March is so close to being spring, but doesn’t make the cut. It wants to be warm and sunny so badly! It’s trying its best! I love March because it makes you feel hopeful and optimistic about warm weather and Vitamin D. I also love walking outside and smelling grass and dirt. Emily Dickinson seems to share my feelings.
Dickinson’s poem, “Dear March- Come in-“, is lovely and unique and is a great example of Emily Dickinson’s writing style. I’ve included the poem below for you to read and ponder before getting into some creative expression. Even if you’ve read this poem before, I encourage you to take your time and read through slowly. Consider reading the poem in your silently in your head first and then read it again out loud so you can hear the words. When you’re done, join me for some fun exercises. See ya there!
Dear March—Come in—
by Emily Dickinson
Dear March—Come in—
How glad I am—
I hoped for you before—
Put down your Hat—
You must have walked—
How out of Breath you are—
Dear March, how are you, and the Rest—
Did you leave Nature well—
Oh March, Come right upstairs with me—
I have so much to tell—
I got your Letter, and the Birds—
The Maples never knew that you were coming—
I declare – how Red their Faces grew—
But March, forgive me—
And all those Hills you left for me to Hue—
There was no Purple suitable—
You took it all with you—
Who knocks? That April—
Lock the Door—
I will not be pursued—
He stayed away a Year to call
When I am occupied—
But trifles look so trivial
As soon as you have come
That blame is just as dear as Praise
And Praise as mere as Blame—
Creative Prompts
Let’s get started with a quick warm up: take out a pen and piece of paper and set a timer for any amount of time, somewhere between two and ten minutes. Now, make a drawing in response to the poem. Try not to overthink it, start moving your pen and don’t stop until the timer ends. This drawing can be doodles, scribbles, a scene, a portrait, ANYTHING. We’re just trying to loosen up a bit. Take breaks and reread the poem as much as you need. When your alarm goes off, set down your utensil and take a look at your hard work. What surprised you about this process?
I’ve identified some themes from the poem and came up with questions to prepare you for the creative prompt. The creative prompts that follow only require a drawing utensil and something to draw on and can be completed in a couple of minutes. I’ve also included some questions to answer after completing the drawing exercises to round out the practice. I hope you have fun!
Personification
Personification is a figure of speech in which a non-living thing/idea/concept is assigned human characteristics. In this poem, Dickinson personifies the month March.
How does Dickinson accomplish personification?
What does Dickinson say that indicates she is using personification?
Grab a fresh piece of paper and draw your responses to the following questions:
If March were a person, how would they look? Give March a body.
If March had a favorite color, what would it be? Add that color to your drawing.
If March had a best friend, who would they be? Draw March’s friend.
What would March’s biggest fear be? Show this fear in March’s world.
What would March think about? Draw their thoughts in a thought bubble.
Would you be friends with March?
If you were to hang out with March, what kind of activities would you do?
Spring
Spring time is a meaningful theme for many poets and for good reason! It’s symbolic time of renewal and rebirth.
What imagery does Dickinson use to represent spring in this poem?
Let’s try drawing a soil profile to demonstrate the hopefulness of spring:
- Draw a horizontal line across the page.
- Add some rocks, treasure, worms, etc. to the bottom half of the line.
- To the top half, add clouds, birds, trees, etc.
- Plant something in the soil- a flower, bush, or vegetable.
- Root the plant into the soil as deep as you want.
- Maybe show different plants at different stages of growth.
What is your favorite part of new beginnings?
How would the drawing be different if you couldn’t see under the soil?
Presence
Dickinson insists that April needs to wait its turn; she is basking in March and trying to soak it all up. Dickinson practices being present throughout the good and bad of March.
How can you be more present in the creative process?
What distractions, thoughts, or feelings inhibit your experience?
Practice being present by drawing a simple pattern. This action will keep your hands busy and allow your mind to focus on the process of creating while quieting the thoughts whirling around in your head.
- Remove distractions and settle into your space.
- Slowly draw a simple pattern. Pretend you’re drawing in slow motion.
- Repeat the pattern until it fills up the page.
- Draw a couple new patterns. Draw as slow as possible as you focus on the movement of the lines, the feeling of the pen, the pressure you’re exerting, and the visual changes.
Were you able to slow down and foucs?
Which pattern was the most fun to make? Why?
Which pattern was the least fun to draw? Why?
You are welcome to download and print this simple format to use, or simply draw your patterns on any piece of paper.
Time
Dickinson observes March’s arrival and departure. She ponders the significance of time and almost tries to make it stop with this poem.
What is Dickinson’s reaction to the passing of time?
How do you describe your relationship with time?
- Map out a timeline. This could be zoomed in on a specific moment in your life, like from birth to age four, or it could be more broad.
- Instead of filling in the timeline with written information, represent the significant moments or feelings with imagery, shapes, or color.
How have you experienced time?
How has time changed over time?
What do you think time will feel like in the future?
You can also think about time like Emily Dickinson, in terms of the seasons. The seasons are cyclical, one leading into the next, again and again.
How can you represent the seasons through materials and images?
- Draw a circle (or download the simple template provided). Divide the circle into four slices, each dedicated to one of the seasons.
- Use color, texture, icon, shapes to depict the seasons, individually and relationally.
What does your art tell you about the seasons?
What does your art tell you about time?
Em Dash
You probably noticed that Dickinson loves using the “em dash” to end lines. If you aren’t familiar, the em dash is a long dash that is usually used in place of other punctuation, such as a colon or semi-colon, to establish emphasis.
What do you think Dickinson is expressing with the em dash?
How do em dashes help Dickinson make her points?
- Fill a piece of paper up with dash marks. Experiment with dashes that are thick and thin, long and short, straight or curved. Put them in a line. Make a shape. Cluster them together. Write your name with dashes. Don’t overthink it.
- Take out another piece of paper. Draw a simple shape, like a circle or square, without picking your pen up from the paper.
- Draw the shape again, this time pick up your writing utensil once, breaking the shape into two parts.
- Continue drawing the shape. Pick up your writing utensil more and more, creating more dash marks.
- Stop when you are drawing the shape out of teeny tiny dashes.
What was it like to pause?
What was it like to interrupt your image?
What moments in life have you experienced an Em Dash? How did you respond to that Em Dash?
Structure
The poem doesn’t have a uniform number of lines per stanza. It also doesn’t rhyme. This wasn’t the norm for poems at the time. Dickinson doesn’t follow a formal or rigid structure. Her poems are free, conversational, and easy to read. (If you really want to investigate the complexities of this poem, I recommend reading this analysis by Rebecca Foust for Women’s Voice for Change.) Structure can be determined in a lot of ways, but we’re going to focus on balance.
How would you describe the structure of this poem?
How does a reader feel when a poem is balanced? How about when a poem is unbalanced?
- Draw a balanced image. You can do this from instinct. Or you can read an in-depth article about balance here.
- Draw an unbalanced image. It could be directly related to the balanced drawing or completely different.
How does balance contribute to structural integrity?
When do you feel most balanced- most structurally sound?
What makes you feel unbalanced?