Superfluous Were the Sun

Dickinson's poem "Superfluous Were the Sun" is a standard Dickinson poem about time and eternity found in the fourth section of her complete book of poetry. The poem is a simple one about the nature of the sun and space. As McChesney writes "As subject, she provided an array of dichotomies: strength/ fragility; boldness/timidity; certainty/questioning; health/frailty; Christian/pagan. As an analyst, she explored her psyche untiringly, reaching conclusions and expressing those intellectual leaps in her poetry." This statement is found to be all too much true if one were to read and analyze the entirety of Dickinson's work. This poem in of itself is an analysis of the sun and how it sits in space and affects the earth.

SUPERFLUOUS were the sun
When excellence is dead;
He were superfluous every day,
For every day is said
That syllable whose faith	5
Just saves it from despair,
And whose “I ’ll meet you” hesitates—
If love inquire, “Where?”
Upon his dateless fame
Our periods may lie,	10
As stars that drop anonymous
From an abundant sky.

As the first stanza says the sun works in excess every day providing too much sunlight and heat than is necessary to sustain us. It exerts itself unnecessarily and does excellence work until excellence is dead. The poem's first stanza is just an admiration to the sun for sustaining human life and working for the good and survival of the human race as a whole.

With the second stanza talks of the human's on the planet who are kept alive by the sun and go about their lives without realizing how large of an impact it has on their lives. It sustains them and allows them to do things such as fall in love and meet with their beloved and only those who have faith realize what God did for them by giving them the sun and allowing them to live as such. The second stanza applauds those with faith and tell of how their admiration saves the sun from flickering out and lapsing into "despair."

The final stanza of the poem is about the inevitable decline and death of the sun. It talks of all the stars that eventually fall out of the night sky and how this will one day occur to the sun as it is nothing more than another star, although one that is especially important to humanity as a whole. It makes the sun seem insignificant in the larger roll of the universe but it stays relevant to humans despite this. There is one line that explains how our lives and beings rely on the fame and ability of the sun to sustain the planet and it's significance for just one planet in the entire universe.

On the surface this poem is a testament to the sun and thanks God for it and no further reading into it is required. It is easy to reveal the true meaning of the poem through a simple reading through of it and the simplicity and thankful nature of the poem are what allow it to excel and work as a poem and a testament to faith and the sun.

Dickinson, Emily. "116. “Superfluous Were the Sun.” Part Four: Time and Eternity. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. .

McChesney, Sandra. "A View from the Window: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson." In Harold Bloom, ed. Emily Dickinson, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BCED03&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 23, 2011).