“Fame is a Bee” Analysis

Today, I will analyze “Fame is a Bee” by Emily Dickinson. This is the original text:

Fame is a bee.
It has a song—
It has a sting—
Ah, too, it has a wing.

Emily Dickinson starts by using a metaphor to compare fame to a bee. Fame isn't actually a bee, but it has bee-like qualities. You have to work hard, like a bee, to become famous.

In the second line, Emily says that fame has a song. This means that people like being famous as they are talked about, admired, etc.

In the third line, Emily says that fame has a sting. If you are famous, many people want to see you, want an autograph, etc., and you won't be able to have as much privacy as a normal person would have.

Finally, in the fourth and last line, fame is described as having a wing. That means that it might not last for a long time, eventually, it will fly away, and you might not be famous anymore in, say, ten years. Moreover, wing rhymes with sting.