35 pages 1 hour read

Emily Dickinson

If you were coming in the fall

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1890

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Literary Devices

Metaphor and Simile

The poem opens with a simile comparing how the speaker will brush aside summer as a housewife brushes away a fly. The contrast between the enormity of summer and the insignificance of a fly adds immediate weight, intrigue, and complexity to the poem, and it hooks the reader with the imaginative, tangible, and imagistic comparison.

Dickinson also uses metaphor when the speaker imagines months as a yarn-like substance that can be mound into balls and the uncertainty of time to the goblin bee. These metaphors work well because she is taking a non-tangible thing like time and using physical images to help the reader feel this unknowable thing. By utilizing concrete metaphors to paint a picture for the reader, Dickinson communicates intangible feelings with physical sensation. This adds relatability to her thoughts, making her emotions much easier to feel and understand than if she simply spoke about them literally.

Repetition

One subtle use of repetition in this poem is at the beginning of each stanza. Dickinson repeats the word “If” at the beginning of every stanza until the last one. While not an immediately obvious detail, once the final stanza comes in, this repetition adds another dimension of doubt to the poem.

Related Titles

By Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

A Bird, came down the Walk

Emily Dickinson

A Bird, came down the Walk

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

A Clock stopped—

Emily Dickinson

A Clock stopped—

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)

Emily Dickinson

A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)

Emily Dickinson

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Emily Dickinson

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

"Faith" is a fine invention

Emily Dickinson

"Faith" is a fine invention

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)

Emily Dickinson

Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Hope is a strange invention

Emily Dickinson

Hope is a strange invention

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers

Emily Dickinson

"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I Can Wade Grief

Emily Dickinson

I Can Wade Grief

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind

Emily Dickinson

I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain

Emily Dickinson

I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

Emily Dickinson

If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

If I should die

Emily Dickinson

If I should die

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I heard a Fly buzz — when I died

Emily Dickinson

I heard a Fly buzz — when I died

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

Emily Dickinson

I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Much Madness is divinest Sense—

Emily Dickinson

Much Madness is divinest Sense—

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Success Is Counted Sweetest

Emily Dickinson

Success Is Counted Sweetest

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

Tell all the truth but tell it slant

Emily Dickinson

Tell all the truth but tell it slant

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

The Only News I Know

Emily Dickinson

The Only News I Know

Emily Dickinson

Study Guide
logo

There is no Frigate like a Book

Emily Dickinson

There is no Frigate like a Book

Emily Dickinson