of meaning to the poem. ‘Touch-me-not’ seems an appropriate choice for the reclusive and elusive Dickinson.
Dickinson describes this humble beauty with lovely imagery in the final stanza, saying that nothing or no one could match the particular yellow of a buttercup or the vivid green of its leaves and stem: ‘Never a Fellow matched this Topaz –/ And his Emerald Swing –’. She uses hyperbole in a humorous and effective way when she claims that such a ‘treasure’ would even be an appropriate dowry or a gift for one of the richest men that ever lived: ‘Dower itself – for Bobadilo –/ Better – Could I bring?’ This poem can be interpreted as being about giving yourself wholly to another person, mind, body and soul. Dickinson, a petite and unassuming woman, has found the perfect symbol for herself – ‘a little Blaze/ Flickering to itself – in the Meadow’.
