"These are the Signs to Nature's Inns --"

By Emily Dickinson
[Analysis]
These are the Signs to Nature's Inns -- [1]
Her invitation broad [2]
To Whosoever famishing [3]
To taste her mystic Bread -- [4]
These are the rites of Nature's House -- [5]
The Hospitality [6]
That opens with an equal width [7]
To Beggar and to Bee [8]
For Sureties of her staunch Estate [9]
Her undecaying Cheer [10]
The Purple in the East is set [11]
And in the North, the Star -- [12]
Poem 1077 [F1106]
"These are the Signs to Nature's Inns"
Analysis by David Preest
[Poem]
Nature's Inn Signs say 'Open to all.' Her 'mystic bread' of the foreshadowing of Eternity is available for all those who hunger for it. Her
hospitality extends to the lowest and the smallest. And the unchanging purple of the dawn in the East and the fixity of the North Star are
'sureties of her staunch Estate' (that she will keep her promise).
The last line may be an echo of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar when he claims, 'But I am constant as the northern star.' (Julius Caesar
3:1:60)
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