This is one of the most accessible of Emily Dickinson’s poems. The narrative can be summed up simply in terms of the poet’s appreciation of the natural world around her. Others may keep to the “Road” they have chosen, following their aims. The poet, however, asserts her wish to live her own way.

The attractiveness of the poem lies in the speaker’s perception of the creatures that live in the natural world, which others fail to see. She semi-seriously ascribes the “Murmur” to “little Men”, a metaphor for the mysteries of nature. But unlike most people she is sufficiently attuned and has the patience to watch and wait.

Structure
The poem comprises five stanzas or quatrains. Dickinson chose ballad metre. That is, alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter — where a iamb or metrical foot is made up of one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable. This pattern is followed in all five stanzas, as is the rhyme scheme ABCB.

Dickinson’s characteristic dashes and pauses are retained, providing the emphasis she needs.

Language and Imagery
The voice is that of a first person speaker using the pronoun “I” and addressing a listener or the reader as “you”.

There is a sweetness about the language, for example, the “Hubbub” of the feet of small creatures, the “Trundle bed” of “Robins” who wear “Nightgowns”. This natural but magical world is accessible and benign.

The human whom Dickinson addresses is referred to more harshly — “So go your Way — and I’ll go Mine” — she clearly wishes to retain her own special relationship with this magic, unsullied by those who can’t tune in to her perceptions.

See The Poetry of Emily Dickinson; Atlantic Review
BBC Podcast ‘In Our Time’ – Emily Dickinson