The phrase “Goblin Bee” contains a personification. Dickinson compares the bee to a goblin, a mischievous, ugly creature resembling a dwarf. In folklore, goblins are seen stealing one’s possessions away. Bees steal the nectar (the most desired thing in a flower apart from its beauty) away and store it in their hives as goblins do. In the poem’s context, the “Goblin Bee,” a metaphor for “uncertainty,” steals the nectar of the speaker’s life, “hope” away.