This poem, by Emily Dickinson (poem is in the public domain)
Bees are Black, with Gilt Surcingles —
Buccaneers of Buzz.
Ride abroad in ostentation
And subsist on Fuzz.
Fuzz ordained — not Fuzz contingent —
Marrows of the Hill.
Jugs — a Universe’s fracture
Could not jar or spill.
What does it mean? Especially the second verse. I can’t work out the first line at all. Marrows as in vegetable marrows, or bone marrow, or what? I found a comment somewhere that suggested the jugs are the flowers containing pollen and nectar, but why would the Universe fracture?
I’m no poet or scholar, but I can guess.
“Fuzz ordained” (not contingent) might mean that it comes from benign God/Nature, rather than abrasion/accident/happenstance.
“Marrows of the Hill”: Nature’s essence, nature’s bounty.
I agree that the jugs are flowers, and extremely spill-proof.
That’s how I read it as well. It’s an omitted “that.” For instance saying “I know you do” is the same as “I know that you do.”
Jugs that a universe’s fracture could not jar or spill. That pollen is well attached or maybe it’s a plant with the pollen deep inside.
So what does marrow do?
Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside some of your bones, such as your hip and thigh bones. It contains stem cells. The stem cells can develop into the red blood cells that carry oxygen through your body, the white blood cells that fight infections, and the platelets that help with blood clotting.
Bees collect the pollen to make honey. They use some for their food. And as they collect it they’re fertilizing plants. So it has multiple functions, too.
Not sure though why she made it plural, Marrows, with Hill being singular. And what do we make of the capitalization?
Thanks for the thoughts. It makes sense that ordained/contingent thing is Christian reference. I have read that there is a lot of religious imagery in her poems. This line was bugging me all weekend.
The thing about the Universe fracturing is that it doesn’t seem like she would just bring that up randomly. She’s a poet, the whole poem is only 35 words; I feel like she doesn’t just casually throw such a dramatic event into a description of bees for no reason. But I guess we just don’t know.
Great picture of marrow flowers. They do look like jugs. I’m not sure about the capitalization, but she does it quite a lot.
Sure we know. Imagine the worst personal blow you can, the knife twisting where it hurts, then worse than that, your life an empty shell and you lacking the vim even to get out of bed and commit suicide. And yet
Die liebe Erde allüberall
Blüht auf im Lenz und grünt aufs neu!
Allüberall und ewig blauen licht die Fernen!
Ewig… ewig…
She’s saying that the bees were created by God. They act according to his will, and they are provided for by him.
The Biblical passage about the Lilies of the Field, referenced by the Marrows of the Hill, is all about God providing what is needed. You certainly won’t be able to understand the poem without reading that passage, because the whole poem is based on it.
The bees, being creatures without free will, are acting according to the will of God, and are provided for by God. They are already in the kingdom of God.
If the universe ends, God will still be there. His inherent nature as the provider of nourishment to all beings will be unchanged, because it is not within his creation.
The poem is not about bees, it’s about God. The bees are only a means to say something about God.
Even the description of the ‘ostentation’, gilt, and beauty of the bees in the first verse brings to mind “That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these”.
