Cocoon above! Cocoon below!

Cocoon above! Cocoon below!
Stealthy Cocoon, why hide you so
What all the world suspect?
An hour, and gay on every tree
Your secret, perched in extasy
Defies imprisonment!

An hour in chrysalis to pass -
Then gay above receding grass
A Butterfly to go!
A moment to interrogate,
Then wiser than a “Surrogate,”
The Universe to know!


F (142)

In “Cocoon above! Cocoon below!” (142) the speaker describes the placement, mystery, and excitement surrounding cocoons and the butterflies’ rebirth seen in the photo above. The speaker is joyful and “gay” (ll. 4) as she searches for the “stealthy” (ll. 2) cocoons that hide among the trees and “receding grass” (ll. 8). She knows what is coming. The cocoons are “perched in extasy” (ll. 5) waiting to defy the “imprisonment” of their containing home (ll. 6). Finally, the caterpillar emerges as a butterfly, takes “a moment to interrogate” this seemingly new world, then takes off into the air (ll. 10). They are “wiser than a ‘Surrogate’” as they fly away to know the Universe (ll. 11).

Readers can see the many carefully placed cocoons that the speaker describes, “above” and “below.” Her excitement radiates with the same excitement that we can imagine the new butterflies are feeling as well. “Extasy” describes an overwhelming sublime high that both the new butterflies and the speaker are experiencing. “Gay” also describes the heightened joy that they are both experiencing. After an hour of watching, the butterflies emerge from their “chrysalis” and fly off into the world with their new wings. With the many exclamation points, we can feel, see, and experience the immense joy and excitement that this natural phenomenon ensues.

Reading into the use of nature in this poem, it is clear that Dickinson respects and celebrates the beauty and mystery of the natural world. In this poem in particular, similar to “Four trees upon a solitary acre,” Dickinson is making an observation of a natural occurrence that serves no purpose to mankind. The butterflies are not eating pests that infest the garden, nor are they producing a product for our consumption. They are simply living and transforming for the sake of themselves, like the trees in “Four trees upon a solitary acre” that exist for the sake of themselves and other natural entities. We can see this poem representing “nature as a permanent withholder of meaning,” as on one level, Dickinson is describing the freedom and simplicity of caterpillars becoming butterflies (Vendler 326). There does not need to be another meaning behind the transformation. The poem does not explicitly draw parallels between this transformation and a similar human experience.

Dickinson does, however, criticize the religious landscape of her time when she calls the emerging butterflies “wiser than a ‘Surrogate’” (ll. 11). These freshly transformed creatures, though they just emerged from their cocoon, are wiser than the clerical, religious judges that settle matters in the human world. The butterflies, with all their natural wisdom, take off to know the universe, something we can never do. With this comparison, Dickinson focuses on the divinity of nature outside of the clergy. She goes so far as to put nature above the clergy, as it is “wiser” and can know the universe while the clergy cannot (ll. 12). This separates the butterflies from the traditional divine purpose because they are above that level of meaning. Similar to the trees, the butterflies do not need to be given purpose from us, mankind, or God, the divine creator, because they have a purpose within themselves void of our expectations, requirements, and desires.


Vendler, Helen. “778.” Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2012, pp. 326 - 329.

https://anelbester.com/blog/the-silent-warrior-the-story-of-the-butterflys-struggle/