Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
An unidentified individual seeking a gift for a friend
Form and Meter
Three four-line stanzas, or quatrains, with alternating long and short lines of varied syllabic length and an ABCB rhyme scheme
Metaphors and Similes
Dickinson uses a great deal of metaphor to describe a flower. It is metaphorically described as "a little blaze," and referred to as "topaz" and "emerald."
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliterative C sounds appear in the line "Colors—from Vera Cruz—" as do alliterative B sounds in the phrases "Berries of Bahamas," "But this little Blaze" and "Better—Could I bring?"
Assonant O sounds appear in the phrase "Odors from St. Domingo." Assonant short I sounds appear in "Flickering to itself." Assonant short E sounds appear in "Never a Fellow."
Irony
Dickinson employs situational irony to describe a flower as more valuable than a variety of highly valued, expensive goods.
Genre
Lyric poem, pastoral
Setting
An unidentified rural setting near a meadow, though it may have been inspired by the western Massachusetts setting where Dickinson lived and where many of her works take place.
Tone
Confident, inquiring, thoughtful
Protagonist and Antagonist
The poem's speaker is its protagonist. Its antagonist is, broadly, materialistic and consumerist attitudes.
Major Conflict
The work's major conflict is the speaker's effort to choose a gift for a loved one.
Climax
The poem's climax is its description of a flower, and specifically the point at which it veers from negative descriptions of other objects to praise of the flower.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
The statement that the flower "Suits Me—more than those—" is understated, given the speaker's later, intense praise of the flower.
Allusions
The poem alludes to several locales in Latin America and the Caribbean (St. Domingo, Vera Cruz, and the Bahamas). It also mentions Bobadilo. This is the name of towns in both El Salvador and Spain, though here it may also refer to a governor of St. Domingo.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The use of "odors" and "colors" to refer to perfumes and dyes is an instance of metonymy.
Personification
The flower is personified with the use of masculine pronouns.
Hyperbole
The poem's final line, a rhetorical question, is hyperbolic: the speaker suggests that there is no finer gift for her friend than the flower.
Onomatopoeia
N/A
