“The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” Summary

“The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” Themes

• 

  The Bittersweet Nature of Grief and Memory

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• 

  The Power of Music and Sound

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The saddest noise, the sweetest noise”

• Lines 1-4

  The saddest noise, the sweetest noise,
  The maddest noise that grows,—
  The birds, they make it in the spring,
  At night’s delicious close,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Between the March and April line—
  That magical frontier
  Beyond which summer hesitates,
  Almost too heavenly near.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  It makes us think of all the dead
  That sauntered with us here,
  By separation’s sorcery
  Made cruelly more dear.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  It makes us think of what we had,
  And what we now deplore.
  We almost wish those siren throats
  Would go and sing no more.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  An ear can break a human heart
  As quickly as a spear.
  We wish the ear had not a heart
  So dangerously near.

  

  

  

  

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“The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” Symbols

• 

  Springtime

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“The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Maddest
• Sauntered
• Sorcery
• Deplore
• Siren

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The saddest noise, the sweetest noise”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” Speaker

“The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The saddest noise, the sweetest noise”

More “The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” Resources

• External Resources

  • Dickinson's Legacy — Listen to three contemporary writers discussing what Emily Dickinson means to them.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to the poem read out loud.

  • A Portrait of Dickinson — See a recently rediscovered photo of Dickinson and learn more about the mysteries around Dickinson's reclusive later years.

  • The Dickinson Museum — Visit the website of the Emily Dickinson Museum to learn more about her life and work.

  • The Dickinson Society — Visit the Emily Dickinson Society to learn more about Dickinson's continuing influence.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!