“Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55)
“She slept beneath a tree
Remembered but by me.
I touched her cradle mute;
She recognized the foot,
Put on her carmine suit –
And, See?
("The Tulip," by Emily Dickinson)
In six succinct lines, Emily Dickinson, as only Dickinson can, describes the arrival of spring, the hope of new possibilities, renewal and the Joy of resurrection. Her less-cited poem, dubbed a “narrative-flicker,” compresses a story – the Easter story — into a few fragmented lines. Its tone is hushed, personal, precise, less preoccupied with death or divinity and more with quiet corporeal resurrection.
Dickinson, as much a gardener as a poet, lived a cloistered life in her childhood home, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Why she chose isolation remains a mystery (today, it would likely be considered a mental or psychological disorder); however, shunning the world outside allowed her to focus intensely on her inner world. Whatever she lost “out there” is our gain. Her poems contain some of the most provocative and enduring lines in American literature.
“We might be wise to follow the insight of the enraptured heart rather than the more cautious reasoning of the theological mind.” (A.W. Tozer)
Dickinson found God in her immediate, natural surroundings. She utilized imagery of flowers, birds, and seasons in her poems to explore themes of eternity, mortality and personal faith.
In “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church,” she rejects traditional church attendance and enigmatically opts for “…staying at home – with a Bobolink for a chorister - and an Orchard for a Dome. “ In the last stanza, she provocatively quips:
“God preaches, a noted Clergyman –
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –
I’m going all along,” reminding us that the divine is found in the present moment; heaven lies all about us, but without spiritual perception – “going to heaven all along,” we won’t recognize or experience it.
Though subtle, the language used in "The Tulip," aligns with Dickinson’s frequent spiritual questioning, framing rebirth not as doctrine, but as a quiet, natural inevitability.
“He is not here; He has arisen!” (Matthew 28:6)
“…See?” – With a single word, Dickinson engages the reader in witnessing the bulb’s transformation, a rare interactive gesture in her otherwise self-contained reflections. Let’s explore how the natural unfolding of a bulb serves as a metaphor for Jesus’s resurrection, “naturally” fulfilling God’s plan of salvation and the prophecies of scripture.
“She slept…” As a bulb is a layered wrap encasing a flower, the Garden Tomb held the promise of eternal life. The cloth, in which Jesus was wrapped, known today as the Shroud of Turin, is Christianity’s most sacred relic. Whether it was the cloth that enveloped Jesus remains a subject of intense scientific debate.*
“Remembered…” “When you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you do so in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25): Jesus speaks to His disciples during the Passover supper the night before He was betrayed.
“I touched…” A cradle is another term for a coffin, a tomb or a bulb. Dickinson was “a lunatic about bulbs,” describing her crocuses as “vassals of the snow.”
“Recognized the foot,” – Typical Dickinsonian verbiage describing conversations with the natural world of flowers, bees, and birds, which, for her, was a place of profound beauty and religious awe. She found the eternal in tiny, insignificant things.
“Put on…” - The tulip bursts forth in a blaze of red, reminiscent of Calvary, where Jesus shed His blood for us, but now that He has burst forth from the tomb, defeating death, the color represents adornment, not only, but also reawakening.
“And, see?” – Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection, transforming her grief into joy. Initially mistaking Him for the gardener, she recognizes Him when He calls her name. Following her Lord’s instructions, she went to tell the disciples: “I have seen the Lord. Come, {See}! (John 20:18)
He is risen. Alleluia!
Stay tuned: The series, Easter Alleluia, commemorates the resurrection of Jesus and His time on earth before His Ascension. Eastertide, the “Great 50 Days,” which runs from Easter to Pentecost (May 24), is marked by joy and continuous singing of “Alleluia.”
