Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Line 13-16
Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats –
And Saints – to windows run –
To see the little Tippler
From Manzanilla come!
- Religious vocab alert: seraphs are the highest ranking angels. Dickinson probably didn't choose this word lightly here. Their role as the choir of angels who are closest to the throne of God is probably something she meant to exploit for the meaning of her poem. Seraphim's only job is to hang out and sing God's praises, so it would be a pretty big deal for them to stop doing their job long enough to watch the speaker reveling in her inebriation.
- The "snowy Hats" most likely represent clouds since, you know, angels tend to fly around in the sky.
- Seraphim are supposed to have three sets of wings: one set to cover their faces, one to cover their feet, and one set to fly. That first set of wings would make a hat fit for a royal wedding, so it's also possible that Dickinson meant that the Seraphs lifted their wings from their heads in order to see our speaker's nature-fest.
- It seems that the Saints want a look-see, too. They come to their windows to check out our speaker, "the little Tippler," as she calls herself (a "tippler" being someone who drinks).
- This little tippler comes from "Manzanilla." That's a small town in Spain, but it's also the name of a sherry wine made in Spain (though not actually in Manzanilla).
- The word "Manzanilla" is also the Spanish word for chamomile, a little white flower that is used in teas. Perhaps Dickinson wasn't alluding to the town, or to the literal alcohol of Manzanilla sherry, but to this pretty little flower. She's been talking about getting drunk off nature all along, after all, and chamomile tea has muscle-relaxing properties—a little like the effects of an alcoholic buzz.
- Here at the end, Dickinson seems to want us to understand that God's okay with her being this drunk on nature, even if she's making a bit of a scene. The angels and the saints are giving her a big thumbs-up, and that's way more important than the sour faces she's probably getting from her high-society friends.
- Two last notes before we wrap this up. Number 1: yep, that is the same ABCB rhyme scheme here—with "run" and "come" from lines 14 and 16—that we saw in the earlier stanzas. Check out "Form and Meter" for more.
- Note 2: Dickinson often rewrote lines in her poems, but preserved the originals. Editors were also fond of tinkering with her words and would change things, but in this case Dickinson revised the poem's ending three times, so there are two other alternative end lines for the poem: "Come staggering toward the Sun," and "Leaning against the – Sun –." The alternative lines are even more dramatic, giving us the vision of a drunken stagger off into the sunset as if it's the finale of a really odd Western.
- Ultimately, Dickinson is saying that she doesn't really care what we think of her because she's got approval from much higher up.