Emily Dickinson's "A Little Dog That Wags Its Tail"

The Daily Poem

Goldberry Studios

Education For Kids, Arts, Kids & Family

4.6 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2023

⏱️ 6 minutes

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Summary

Today’s poem is by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886), an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.[2] Despite Dickinson's prolific writing, only ten poems and a letter were published during her lifetime. After her younger sister Lavinia discovered the collection of nearly 1800 poems, Dickinson's first volume was published four years after her death. Until Thomas H. Johnson published Dickinson's Complete Poems in 1955,[130] Dickinson's poems were considerably edited and altered from their manuscript versions. Since 1890 Dickinson has remained continuously in print.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm Heidi White, and today is Wednesday, June 28th, 2023. Today's poem is by Emily Dickinson, and it's called A Little Dog That Wags His Tail. I'll read it once and offer a few comments and then read it a final time. There we go.
0:23.0	A little dog that wags his tail. A little dog that wags his tail and knows no other joy of such a
0:32.7	little dog am I reminded by a boy who gambles all the living day without an earthly cause, because he is a little boy, I honestly suppose.
0:44.3	The cat that in the corner dwells, her martial day forgot. The mouse but a tradition now of her desireless lot.
0:58.0	Another class remind me, who neither please nor play,
1:10.6	but not to make a bit of noise beseech each little boy. Emily Dickinson lived from 1830 to 1886. She's widely considered to be one of the greatest poets ever.
1:15.3	She's an American poet. And she lived a secluded but deeply thoughtful and attentive life.
1:21.2	Her poetry reflects her ability to explore the hidden depths of meaning through experiences of
1:27.3	ordinary life. In this case, through
1:29.8	observing a playful child. And in this simple but profound poem, Dickinson compares the exuberance
1:37.6	of childhood play with the same playful sphere of a puppy who gambles all the live long day without an earthly cause.
1:47.1	The poem acknowledges that such play is gratuitous.
1:51.1	It serves no apparent practical or productive purpose the way that the cats, quote,
1:56.8	Marshall Day does.
1:59.0	And yet the poem seems to be raising the question, is that not the nature of joy?
2:04.8	A child at play and a little dog wagging his tail are pretty much universal images of joy.
2:12.8	And is that not their purpose? Dickinson is known for the meter of her poetry. She does not use iambic
2:20.4	pentameter, which had been that dominant meter of English poetry for centuries. Instead,
2:26.5	Dickinson wrote in hymn meter. Poetry lovers often quip that it's possible to sing all of
2:32.9	Dickinson's poetry to the tune of the battle
2:35.4	hymn of the Republic. And this poem is no exception. And the meter contributes to the tone
2:41.5	of her poetry and often to the meaning in significant ways. In this poem, for example, the hymn
	...

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