Summer Shower

Summary


Summer Shower is a short poem by Emily Dickinson that follows a passing rainstorm from the first drop on an apple tree to the sparkling aftermath. Raindrops kiss the eaves, make the gables laugh, and hurry to join the brook on its way to the sea. The speaker wonders what necklaces pearls might make. Birds sing more jauntily, the sunshine tosses away his hat, and the East hangs out a single flag to close the festivities.

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A DROP fell on the apple tree,
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.

A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!

The dust replaced in hoisted roads,
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.

The breezes brought dejected lutes,
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fête away.


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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a reclusive 19th-century American poet from Amherst, Massachusetts, whose compact, dash-filled verses were mostly published after her death. This poem is a good example of her habit of dressing small natural events in playful personification.