The English Poem 'How Happy is the Little Stone' by Emily Dickinson. Summary of the poem and the Annotations, which is useful to degree students.

1. How Happy is the Little
Stone Poem
Emily Dickinson

2. Poem Summary

3. “How happy is the Little Stone” is a delightful and delighted
lyric about the simple features of the natural world, written by
the prolific poet Emily Dickinson (1830-86) who produced
works of great originality. She lived as a recluse all her life. She
started writing poetry in her twenties and wrote more than
1,700 short poems, but only seven were published in her
lifetime. Her poems deal with basic human concerns like love,
pain, fame, death and immortality. Simple diction, colloquial
rhythms and unconventional imagery are the special features
of her poetry.

4. In the present poem ‘How happy is the little stone’
Dickinson personifies a stone. The speaker addresses the
theme of happiness, peace, and the purpose of life. The
stone stands in as a symbol for ideal happiness and a
perfectly designed life without pressures. She describes its
rambling adventures, evoking joy and states that people
should be happy and enjoy the time you have on this
amazing world we call Earth.

5. The stone on the road leads a life without pressures. Dickinson
essentially compares the life of a stone and the life of a human. She
finds the life of a stone is much easier and simpler than the life of a
human, so it is happy. This poem is full of poetic devices, such as
personification, smile and imagery. Each of the poetic devices
further supports the idea that the people are unhappy because of
their complicated lives. Dickinson gives the stone human like
qualities to illustrate the stone’s purpose, why it exists. The stone is
observed as happy because it has no responsibilities or struggles. It
has a completely carefree existence, no career or urgent needs
especially compared to humans stated in the line “And doesn’t care
about careers”.

6. The stone is free from ‘Exigencies’ or urgent demands that
come with having an important career although ‘Careers is an
inspired word for Dickinson to use since stones do career or
bounce along the road when forces of nature disturb them, and this
stone is described as rambling in the road. The poem invokes varied
feelings in the reader’s mind. If one dwells on it, however, they
remember that many of their worries are unimportant to nature
and are caused by one self. The stone is the product of the universe
of things coming together and developing in the way that they have
and this process might be viewed as part of the stone’s ‘destiny’ or
‘absolute decree’. But the stone is unaware that it is ‘fulfilling’ and
it is simply in what it is. May be that is why the stone is so happy.

7. One of the main themes of the transcendental (spiritual) philosophy
is maintaining simplicity and living life naturally. In Dickinson’s poem,
she is clearly expressing the transcendental ideal of simplicity when she
refers to a little stone, “that rambles in the street alone”. Dickinson claims
that the stone is “fulfilling absolute decree” which evidences her
transcendental identity. The existence and everything in the universe are
not ours, it was not made for us. We are part of the universe but only a
small part. We are all blind in this universe because we just see what we
want to see and not what is really there in front of our eyes the whole
time. We are just temporary passers in the universe. The stone is been
here long before we ever came along and it will be here along after we
are all dead and gone. That’s what Emily Dickinson tried to convey in this
simple little poem that nobody would ever give a split second of thought
to just walking down a road and kicking a stone. She thought about it for
more than a split second. Lastly, the simple life can be seen when
Dickinson states that the stone “doesn’t care about careers and Exigencies
never fears”, as it is not worried about having a job, as it does not value it
and it does not believe a career to be important.

8. Annotation

9. 1. How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the Road alone,
(OR)
2. And doesn’t care about Careers
And Exigencies never fears-
(OR)
3. Whose Coat of element Brown
A passing Universe put on,
(OR)
4. And independent as the Sun
Associates or glows alone.
(OR)
5. Fulfilling absolute
Decree in casual simplicity.

10. Reference:
These lines are taken from the poem “How Happy is the
Little Stone” written by Emily Dickinson. She was a major
American poet. Her poems deal with basic human concerns
like love, pain, fame, death and immortality and reflect an
intense inner struggle.

11. Context:
In this poem, Dickinson personifies a little stone
enjoying its solitary, carefree life of simple pleasures. The
stone is personified by using the words happy, rambles,
doesn’t care, never fears and independent. Here, is a stone
in the road rolling along happy and carefree without any
worries.

12. Meaning:
The stone is independent and satisfied in its direction. It
doesn’t care about careers and doesn’t fear for any demands or
emergency and still the stone is fulfilling its full potential. The
stone is leading a very simple life and described happily by
accepting its role in this wider universe. The stone is fulfilling a
decree to exist and to be a part of this world without covering
itself in stress and complexities of life. It lives in ‘Simplicity’.

13. Dickinson imbues (inspire) the stone with human
characteristics and consider it as a representative symbol
of an unworried, peaceful life. She compares the life of a
stone and the human. The stone is independent of itself
and able to fulfil its purpose without any worries whereas
human life is with pressures.
A representative stone stands in as a symbol for ideal
happiness and a perfectly designed life without pressures.
The main poetic device in ‘How Happy is the Little Stone’
is Personification.

14. Thank You