17 pages • 34 minutes read
Whose cheek is this?
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Themes
Life Fades Away
Dickinson’s poem provides several images or symbols of thriving, vibrant subjects. The speaker describes the “rosy face” flush with life in Line 2. The pink “cheek” (Line 1) could refer to the blossom of a flower or to a young girl or woman in the bloom of life. The “Robins” (Line 6) that appear in the second stanza represent new life and rebirth. However, just as this imagery represents life, birth, and youth, the poem likewise addresses the alternative. Over time, the cheek that is flush with youth will fade, losing its “blush” (Line 3). Robins, the birds that are supposed to sing in new life and youthful energy, are the same birds that act as funeral attendants in the poem. The robins see the wilted flower or the dead body and “cover such with leaves” (Line 7). The beauty of the “cheek” (Line 8) becomes conflated with the “pall” (Line 9), or the funereal covering, so much so that the speaker’s “scrutiny deceives” (Line 10) them, and they cannot differentiate between the two. This conflation between life and death shows how they fade into one another. Life will eventually wane, no matter how big or how small the subject is. The cycle of life will continue perpetually, from life that fades into death, and death that carries the hope of rebirth.
Companionship as a Means of Sustenance
Dickinson’s poem highlights the importance of human camaraderie and friendship and the danger that can ensue when this companionship is removed or restricted. When the speaker discovers the girl/flower at the opening of the poem, the speaker is looking at a single subject. This is demonstrated through the singular pronouns used in the first three lines: “Whose” (Line 1), “What” (Line 2), “her” (Line 3). By Line 4, however, the term “pleiad” hints that this girl/flower was not always singular but rather part of a group. “Pleiad” alludes to the Pleiades, or seven sisters in Greek mythology supposedly turned into a constellation. “Pleiad” refers to a single member of this constellation rather than the whole group. The flower is without the rest of its field or bouquet, and the girl/woman is without the rest of her sisters. This separation might not be directly responsible for the flower's/girl's demise, but the lack of camaraderie leaves her vulnerable. Without the rest of her group members and sisters, the “blush” (Line 3) of the flower or girl/woman fades. The speaker also acts on this need and desire to provide a sense of camaraderie and group protection. When the speaker discovers the girl/flower, they “bore her safe away” (Line 5). By hinting at previous group status and current seclusion, the speaker points to the importance of belonging and the protection and sustenance it provides.
Death as a Disorienting Force
Death can be an uncomfortable subject to make sense of, think about, or talk about. The speaker does not explicitly mention that the figure/flower before them has “died.” The word “death” is not part of the poem. Rather, readers must infer that death is indeed what the speaker insinuates. Readers draw this assumption when they read about the “rosy face” (Line 2) that “Has lost a blush today” (Line 3). They can also read death in the reference to “pall” (Line 9) and in the allusion to the “tradition” (Line 6), or folktale, of “Two Babes in the Woods,” which tells the story of two children lost in the woods who eventually die. The absence of the words “death,” “dead,” or “dying” might represent the inherent discomfort about the topic. This discomfort can reach such an intensity that the topic of death can become disorienting for an individual. For example, after the speaker relates finding the figure/flower in the woods, they immediately jump to describing the “Robins” (Line 6) in the folktale. The speaker never returns to speaking specifically about the figure/flower in the first stanza, instead shying away from the topic, purposefully avoiding what they know will only bring sadness and confusion.
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By Emily Dickinson
