Greenberg 1

Jayla Greenberg

November 5 2021

English 100

Professor Goldstein

Dead Mothers, Loving Birds, and Emily Dickinson’s Theory of Mortality

Rather than a scientific one, a radical, changing concept of “death” is the backdrop of

Emily Dickinson’s bibliography. It’s a provocative image to fixate on; for Emily Dickinson, a

Christian, to speak so authoritatively on mortality, surely her theory on death brings a unique

slant on the subject. In examining her views on death, a reader comes to a standstill with

Dickinson’s “Mama never forgets her birds.” The poem, seemingly a story about birds, continues

into a tale of mortality and the nature of mortality. Thus, the poem doesn’t undermine death; it

faces it head on. Rather unintuitively, through her unorthodox usage of quotation marks, “Mama

never forgets her birds” (referred to as “Mama” for the remainder of this essay) finds Dickinson

forgoing her biblical roots and codifying what the poem takes as law: death is permanent, and

unwavering, even in the face of love.

Before examining this conclusion, it is useful to begin unravelling the conceit that

perpetuates itself through the seemingly arbitrary placement of quotation marks throughout the

piece. These quotation marks, placed around words like “mama”, “notices” and “sparrows fall”,

serve as a framing device, and as a “nudge” that there is a hidden layer of poetry within these

words (Dickinson). This becomes especially apparent when examining the poem as it is; through

the diction of words like “mortal nest,” “notices above”, and “looks down”, it seems to be about

mortality, as the diction relates to mortality and heaven (Dickinson). And yet, the raw text

continues to simply tell the story of loving, living birds. Because of the barricades between the
 Greenberg 2

serenity of the literal text and the somber mortality of this proposed metaphor, one could claim

that half of the poem exists in interpretation. Furthermore, this “half” that exists within the

conceit serves as the ambassador to these main ideas. However, while there is a connection to

these large ideas, the diction alone is unable to prove the more intimidating thesis: that this

mortal connection is packaged with the loftier conclusion that “death is permanent” and

disconnected from reality.

While these words certainly evoke these concepts, this isn’t clear when reading the poem

synoptically. In fact, a synopsis of the poem reads something like this: “a ‘mother’ never forgets

her ‘birds’, even if she moves away. Even if her ‘birds’ fall, she will ‘notice’ “. “Mama” is

deceptively simple-- the poem is almost boring. Rhetorically, this isn’t ideal; it makes for

uninteresting poetry without stakes. However, Dickinson is fully aware of this, and thus, the

quotation marks are born.

The quotation marks serve as the rhetorical and literary device driving the conceit of

“Mama”. The purpose of the quotes around both “mama” and “sparrows” is a cynical one; it

calls into question the true nature of these characters and their relationships (Dickinson). These

quotes invoke sarcasm in an attempt to notify the reader of an alternative reading, and indeed,

through these quotation marks, an alternative reading can be parsed together. These two quotes,

both in reference to the characters of the poem, work in tandem with the biblical imagery of

“notices above” to create a human-based version of the poem; a version of the poem more in line

with its (likely) Christian audience (Dickinson). The key word in “notices above” would be

“above” in constructing such an interpretation; it at once evokes the imagery of a mama bird

perched “above” her children and the imagery of a mother in heaven, noticing her children from

“above”. The purpose of this dualistic imagery is as a lead-in to said alternative reading; the fact
 Greenberg 3

that the two readings exist validates the variance of the work. The quotes around “mama” and

“sparrows” are able to be substituted with “[human] mama” and “children” to illuminate this

aspect of the poetry (Dickinson). The usage of quotes seems to invite such substitutions, and

furthermore, through these substitutions, and the subsequent interpretation, not only do the

quotes make rhetorical sense within the poetry, but more pressing, some of the puzzling diction,

like “mortal nest”, begins to make more intuitive sense (Dickinson). Through taking the liberties

of unearthing this alternative reading, the poem becomes rhetorically interesting: a contrast to the

synoptically boring poem.

Conversely, the strongest opposition to such an interpretation would be that, in an attempt

to unearth a “rhetorically interesting” work, it takes too many liberties from the text. This is

valid; the alternative interpretation is straying away from the synoptic one. There are liberties

being taken in this interpretation, and it does make assumptions about the text’s purpose.

However, while these points are valid and do challenge the strength of this alternative method to

“Mama”, the strength of this interpretation lies in its placement in Dickinson’s own catalogue.

The subject matter, about mortality and religion, fits congruently within Dickinson’s poetic

progression of these concepts, and furthermore, this alternative interpretation awards far more

credit to Dickinson’s own writing process. In crediting her with the authorial intent of this

interpretation, far more excavation of Dickinson’s writing is possible, and we are able to pursue

an academic reading of “Mama” that looks further than the synopsis. While these creative

liberties are an aspect to be aware of in constructing arguments about “Mama”, the mere action

of taking creative liberties isn’t inherently invalid. The creative liberties being taken are tied to

the text, and are utilized to understand the text in a creative and academic manner. Essentially,

we can take these creative liberties in an effort to contribute more to academia than synopsis.
 Greenberg 4

With that being said, the importance of this interpretation is that it offers a greater

significance to “Mama”. By removing the poem from the synopsis of the “bird” story, the tale

becomes a fundamentally human one. This alternative interpretation is one of human mortality;

the “mama” of this reading isn’t simply migrating, and she isn’t simply watching her “sparrows”.

The “mama” figure of this reading has died, signalled by the usage of words like “mortal nest”

and “notices above” (Dickinson). These words, confusing in the synoptic reading (what does it

mean for a nest to be “mortal”?), draw lines between humanity and mortality that don’t exist in

the synopsis, and when read considering human characters, invoke biblical imagery through

words like “sparrows fall”, referencing the “fall” from Paradise, or the “fall” from grace, and

through words like “notices above” referencing the “looking down” one does from heaven.

While this imagery is glitzy in the synoptic version, as it illustrates a life where these birds have

little worries, the alternative reading paints a picture in opposition, where, with their mother

dead, her children are left without her guidance, and even though she never “forgets her

[children]”, when she has died, there is nothing she can do but “notice” them “fall” (Dickinson).

The two readings are in opposition to one another, and through this opposition, they reveal truths

about one another.

While the metaphorical “mortal” reading is certainly somber, and carries its own weight,

it doesn’t exist without the synoptic reading. The synoptic reading, or the “bird” story serves a

parallel purpose to the “mortal” reading, in that it tells the story of the pleasures of life, and the

love of motherhood. The “mama” of the bird story is in a position of unconditional love for her

children; she is able to “look down just as often” and “just as tenderly”, and there seems to be no

bounds placed on the love she can show for her birds, as she can show this love even “in another

tree” (Dickinson). While the “mortal” reading is overtly depressive, this “bird” reading operates
 Greenberg 5

on a polar end; it celebrates the love that we can show to our loved ones while we are alive. The

conclusion that accompanies this statement, however, is that, through the progression of the

poem, and the unearthing of the “mortal” reading, this love wanes. As the “birds” live , their

ability to show this love wanes and weakens, and eventually, through the fate of the “Mama” of

the mortal reading, this love ends. When dead, the “Mama” is only able to “notice” her birds; she

isn’t able to love them, help them, or save them (Dickinson). She can only notice them, and by

extension, she can only notice their suffering. This noticing is a detachment from the

unconditional love shown in the beginning of the poem with words like “just as tenderly” and

“though in another tree” (Dickinson). The purpose of this shift in the mother’s love is clear

through a holistic interpretation of both readings: as the poem progresses, and as the “Mama”s

life progresses, she dies, and in death, she loses the ability to care for her children. Even in

poetry, she cannot escape death, and although the bird of the synoptic reading hasn’t met this

fate, the quotation marks surrounding “Mama” serve as a reminder that such a fate is coming in

the future. The quotations serve as a warning to “Mama” and the reader, that, eventually,

everyone will lose the tender love of the synoptic reading to the mortality of the mortal reading.

This alternative reading holds stock in a holistic valuation of “Mama”. It allows the poem

to transcend the “bird” poem into a codification of mortality. Through the use of the quotation

marks, Dickinson is able to evolve the tale from being one of birds to something far more

pressing: a statement of human mortality. Her statements on mortality in “Mama” should be

investigated further, considering that Dickinson was a devout Christian. Perhaps “Mama”, and

the views contained within it serve as a blip in her own religious devotion, or perhaps the views

conveyed within “Mama” serve as a broad wavering of Dickinson’s own faith. Thus, “Mama”

serves a deserved purpose in Dickinson’s bibliography; it solidifies her theory of death.

 Greenberg 6

Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily, and R. W. Franklin. “Mama never forgets her birds.” The Poems of Emily

Dickinson. Reading ed. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press, 1999. Print.