I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to— Literary Elements

An unidentified individual seeking a gift for a friend

Three four-line stanzas, or quatrains, with alternating long and short lines of varied syllabic length and an ABCB rhyme scheme

Dickinson uses a great deal of metaphor to describe a flower. It is metaphorically described as "a little blaze," and referred to as "topaz" and "emerald."

Alliterative C sounds appear in the line "Colors—from Vera Cruz—" as do alliterative B sounds in the phrases "Berries of Bahamas," "But this little Blaze" and "Better—Could I bring?"

Assonant O sounds appear in the phrase "Odors from St. Domingo." Assonant short I sounds appear in "Flickering to itself." Assonant short E sounds appear in "Never a Fellow."

Dickinson employs situational irony to describe a flower as more valuable than a variety of highly valued, expensive goods.

Lyric poem, pastoral

An unidentified rural setting near a meadow, though it may have been inspired by the western Massachusetts setting where Dickinson lived and where many of her works take place.

Confident, inquiring, thoughtful

The poem's speaker is its protagonist. Its antagonist is, broadly, materialistic and consumerist attitudes.

The work's major conflict is the speaker's effort to choose a gift for a loved one.

The poem's climax is its description of a flower, and specifically the point at which it veers from negative descriptions of other objects to praise of the flower.

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The statement that the flower "Suits Me—more than those—" is understated, given the speaker's later, intense praise of the flower.

The poem alludes to several locales in Latin America and the Caribbean (St. Domingo, Vera Cruz, and the Bahamas). It also mentions Bobadilo. This is the name of towns in both El Salvador and Spain, though here it may also refer to a governor of St. Domingo.

The use of "odors" and "colors" to refer to perfumes and dyes is an instance of metonymy.

The flower is personified with the use of masculine pronouns.

The poem's final line, a rhetorical question, is hyperbolic: the speaker suggests that there is no finer gift for her friend than the flower.

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