Telling the Bees

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | 450 words | Copyright

Telling the Bees, poem by Whittier, in an approximation of ballad meter, published in 1858 and collected in Home Ballads (1860). A young man passes the farm of his beloved, where he sees the hired girl observing the old New England custom of dressing the hives in mourning and informing the bees of a death. He thinks his Mary's grandfather has died, but is stunned to hear the chore girl tell the bees “Mistress Mary is dead and gone!”

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Telling the Bees." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Telling the Bees." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-TellingtheBees.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Telling the Bees." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-TellingtheBees.html

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