Emily Dickinson's Riddle

There's always been a shroud of mystery surrounding the hermit-like poet Emily Dickinson. Known for rarely leaving her house and stepping out of town only once in her entire lifetime, this retiring American poet has nevertheless captured the hearts and minds of poetry lovers everywhere. Though she may not have been particularly social, many of her poems contain hints of playfulness and lightheartedness. One such example is the poem “It sifts from leaden sieves” which presents the reader with a riddle, never saying outright what exactly the “It” is of the title. In addition to providing a fun challenge for the reader, Dickinson also gives us a beautifully thought-out and well-executed poem. Let's take a closer look:

It sifts from Leaden Sieves-
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road-

Taking the first sentence we ask, what is something that is normally sifted? The first thing that comes to mind is flour, which is often sifted during baking. However, this poem can't be about flour, not only because no one in their right mind would allow lead near their food, but because in the next lines we see that there is a great amount of “it”, enough to cover all of the wood and the road besides! We also learn that the substance is white (from the word “alabaster”). Even from this first stanza, we can easily guess the riddle- what is white and can sift down to cover the entire forest and road? If you've said snow, then you are correct. Now don't run off just because we've solved the riddle. (It's actually a really simple riddle, if you think about it, and solving it isn't the main point of the poem at all) The real prize lies in the poem itself, in the language Dickinson uses to create the very exact image of snow in our minds, without ever once writing the word 'snow'.

As with many of Dickinson's poems, this particular piece often just skirts the line of rhyming, coming near and pulling back at the last second. The stanza above makes good use of assonance with the words “wood”, “wool” and, to a lesser extent, “road”. It also contains a steady meter, with three beats in the first two and the last line, and four in the third (It sifts from leaden Sieves-), which we will see repeated farther on.

Notice, also, the way the poet manages color description. We see none of the traditional color words here (white, gray, etc.). Instead, we have “Leaden Sieves” to describe gray clouds, and “Alabaster Wool” to describe white snow. This makes the poem much more interesting and actually more descriptive. Many shades of gray and white exist, but here Dickinson has given us specifics. We all know how those gray winter clouds can look like dull metal, and the snow, which we know is actually cold and wet, can from a distance appear light and soft and fluffy, like wool. The word “Alabaster” evokes more beauty, femininity and gentleness than the simple, non-explanatory “white”.

The poem continues:

It makes an Even Face
Of Mountain, and of Plain-
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East again-

Here we finally get a solid rhyme (if you're pronouncing the word “again” in a British rather than American accent). Dickinson further describes how the snow changes the landscape, filling in all the hollows and making everything smooth, “an Even Face”.

It reaches to the Fence-
It wraps it Rail by Rail
Till it is lost in Fleeces-
It deals Celestial Vail

To Stump, and Stack- and Stem-
A Summer's empty Room-
Acres of Joints, where Harvests were,
Recordless, but for them-

Now we get in closer to the details of the snow. Previously we looked at the entire landscape brushed into a white clean slate. Now we draw closer, to see how the individual objects nearby have been affected. The fence is transformed by the snow (not called snow here but “Fleeces”, another reference to soft-looking snowflakes), and changed enough that it can even be called “lost”. The nearby stumps of trees, stacks of hay and stems of leftover plants, are covered in “Celestial Vail”, crystallized by the frost and the glittering snow. The entire world is transformed from the ordinary (fences, haystacks, etc.) into beautiful shining heavenly objects. The “empty Room” of Summer has been bedecked with jewels by winter.

More rhyme appears here, “Rail” / “Vail”, “Stem” / “them-”, which works to knit the end of the poem ever closer together as it nears the climax of its description. Alliteration of “Stump”, “Stack”, “Stem-” and “Summer” allow the poem to slide easily off the tongue, while at the same time emphasizing the s sound- the first sound of the word “snow”.

The final stanza brings everything together:

It Ruffles Wrists of Posts
As Ankles of a Queen-
Then stills its Artisans- like Ghosts-
Denying they have been-

Again, we have the satisfying rhymes, this time of all the lines. The poem started slowly, with few rhymes and some loose assonance to hold it together, then eventually increased its rhyme until the end of the poem, where everything is complete: Dickinson has given us her best description, and we have guessed the riddle. The landscape is transformed from an ordinary landscape into a glittering ballroom, and now at last the Queen sweeps in to occupy it. The snow settles upon the posts in layers in the same way that lace would gather around the ankles of a woman wearing an old-fashioned and fancy dress. The use of “Wrists” to describe the posts links their image to the human image of a person with “Ankles”. The “Artisans” or artists, who created this beautiful landscape, are nowhere to be seen, disappearing “like Ghosts”, leaving no one to take credit for such beauty, but instead leaving us to marvel at what Nature produces, seemingly at random or by accident, or possibly by Divine intent (the reader is left to decide).

Thus, we have not only a fun riddle to guess, but we are treated to an amazing array of poetical devices describing something rather common (snow) in an interesting and beautiful way. Dickinson manages to invoke a dazzling image of a field covered in snow without ever using such cliched, expected words such as “snow”, “white”, “winter”, “gray”, “clouds”, etc. Truly, when reading this poem, we recognize the presence of a master.

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