Emily Dickinson's Galvanizing Poems
Emily Dickinson did not aspire to be a famous poet with such galvanizing poems. Dickinson simply wanted to express her feelings and frustrations, without the searching, judging eyes of those around her. Unfortunately, one of her frustrations happened to be that she fell in love with the wrong men, specifically ones that were already committed to other women. Within the poem, “Heart! I will forget him!”, she said,”You may forget the warmth he gave,”(1.3). This translates to Dickinson trying to convince her heart to forget about the man, or men, she had feelings for. Maybe even giving her heart permission to let him go, which represents her continuous cycle of attempting to let go or hold onto something that wasn’t meant for her. This characteristic
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of hers gets shown, in her poem, “If you were coming in the Fall,” where she said “If you were coming in Fall/I’d brush the summer by,” showing that she had a somewhat impatient personality(1.1-2). The quote means that if the man she fell for decided to come in Fall, she would brush the summer away like it did not matter, just to have him sooner. Because Emily Dickinson had such horrible experiences with love, her poems helped her express her fervent emotions that formed all too quickly. Although Dickinson started as radiant, brilliant girl, something in her started to deteriorate.
She went through more heartbreaks, and began to witness more deaths, including her mother’s. This lead Dickinson to isolate herself, and write more about death. For instance, in her poem, “Because I could not stop for death”, she said, “The carriage held but just ourselves/and immortality,”(1.3-4). If Emily Dickinson’s avoidance of writing things straightforward and liking to telling the truth causes confusion, this quote means that in dying, they would live forever in death itself. Dickinson began to bring to light her new understanding of loss and death through her poetry. She incorporated her new found understanding and interest in death, realizing she had so much more to learn and experience. “I heard a fly buzz,” from her poem, “I heard a fly buzz- when I died,” portrays her hearing a fly buzzing instead of seeing some spiritual being, such as Christ, or spiritual revelations when dying(1.1). This shows that Dickinson started to think about death more and more throughout time. Then eventually, at the age of 56, while suffering from a case of Bright’s disease, Dickinson died on May 15th, 1886. Forever leaving an imprint of her feelings on people’s hearts. Never quite getting out her true understanding of death, for when she truly found it, it was too
late.
Explain the poet’s poetic devices and style.
Every poem of Dickinson seems to be thought out so meticulously, to obtain the highest level of connection with the person reading it. She knew exactly what to do to plunge the idea into people’s heads, by using metaphors, and talking in slant. Ironically, she did this in her poem,”Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” by saying,”The truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind,”(2.3-4). Dickinson, in this poem, tells people to tell the truth slant (which is lessening the blow truth causes people), while writing in slant. Although she evades telling the full truth, she also evades the literal truth, by using metaphors to give a different image to her meaning. She utilizes a metaphor in her poem,”I heard a fly buzz--when I died,” where she wrote,” With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz-/ between the light - and me- /And then the windows failed - /and then I could not see to see,”(4.1-4). Her objective in this line, was to explain that the light (at the end of the tunnel) became obscured by the fly’s buzz, and the windows being closed referred to the pathway not being opened to her and she could not see what she thought she would see (Christ). Bringing to life the image she wanted to create, without explaining it right away. This technique that Dickinson uses lets people become apart of the poem by creating their own picture of the scene through the one she imagined.
Dickinson started with the classic poetry styles, but as time when on, she started to use and create styles that became unique to her and her form of expression. A technique that she utilized often, involves dashes and capitalization where an idea needs to be emphasized. In the poem,”If you were coming in the fall,” Dickinson states, “If certain, when this life was out--/That yours and mine, should be,”(4.1-2) Where Dickinson uses a dash to connect the idea that if her and her lover’s current lives ended, their lives together would begin. Tying in the fact that she fell in love with men that could never be hers. When she used capitalization, she showed the importance of the word, or connected that word to another capitalized word. She did this in the poem,”Tell all the Truth but tell it slant,” where she said, “As Lightning to the Children eased/With explanation kind(1.5-6). Where Dickinson really emphasizes, that the lightning (or the fear of lightning) to the children became eased with a kind explanation. In this specific poem, she explained that truth could not be revealed completely, because it had far too much light to be seen in full. And the idea that “telling the truth slant”, consisted of easing it in a way that would not expose the total idea of it. Which people nowadays do, but some might consider it lying. All of this shows how talented she became with her writing, and why Emily Dickinson became one of the most legendary poets to ever write in America.
Explain what you are trying to convey in your poem and the style/ technique
you are trying to convey. In my poem, “A Certain Type of Love,” I talk about love, a common theme in Dickinson’s poetry. Her and I clearly have different love experiences, considering she has had multiple husbands and I am 17, but I tried my best. Like Dickinson, I capitalize some of my words in a line to show the importance of those ideas together. When I use dashes, I use them to break up the poem, giving it a quick pause. Also, I tied in metaphors, as Dickinson did, to relate love to the outside world, proving it is everywhere.
of hers gets shown, in her poem, “If you were coming in the Fall,” where she said “If you were coming in Fall/I’d brush the summer by,” showing that she had a somewhat impatient personality(1.1-2). The quote means that if the man she fell for decided to come in Fall, she would brush the summer away like it did not matter, just to have him sooner. Because Emily Dickinson had such horrible experiences with love, her poems helped her express her fervent emotions that formed all too quickly. Although Dickinson started as radiant, brilliant girl, something in her started to deteriorate.
She went through more heartbreaks, and began to witness more deaths, including her mother’s. This lead Dickinson to isolate herself, and write more about death. For instance, in her poem, “Because I could not stop for death”, she said, “The carriage held but just ourselves/and immortality,”(1.3-4). If Emily Dickinson’s avoidance of writing things straightforward and liking to telling the truth causes confusion, this quote means that in dying, they would live forever in death itself. Dickinson began to bring to light her new understanding of loss and death through her poetry. She incorporated her new found understanding and interest in death, realizing she had so much more to learn and experience. “I heard a fly buzz,” from her poem, “I heard a fly buzz- when I died,” portrays her hearing a fly buzzing instead of seeing some spiritual being, such as Christ, or spiritual revelations when dying(1.1). This shows that Dickinson started to think about death more and more throughout time. Then eventually, at the age of 56, while suffering from a case of Bright’s disease, Dickinson died on May 15th, 1886. Forever leaving an imprint of her feelings on people’s hearts. Never quite getting out her true understanding of death, for when she truly found it, it was too
late.
Explain the poet’s poetic devices and style.
Every poem of Dickinson seems to be thought out so meticulously, to obtain the highest level of connection with the person reading it. She knew exactly what to do to plunge the idea into people’s heads, by using metaphors, and talking in slant. Ironically, she did this in her poem,”Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” by saying,”The truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind,”(2.3-4). Dickinson, in this poem, tells people to tell the truth slant (which is lessening the blow truth causes people), while writing in slant. Although she evades telling the full truth, she also evades the literal truth, by using metaphors to give a different image to her meaning. She utilizes a metaphor in her poem,”I heard a fly buzz--when I died,” where she wrote,” With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz-/ between the light - and me- /And then the windows failed - /and then I could not see to see,”(4.1-4). Her objective in this line, was to explain that the light (at the end of the tunnel) became obscured by the fly’s buzz, and the windows being closed referred to the pathway not being opened to her and she could not see what she thought she would see (Christ). Bringing to life the image she wanted to create, without explaining it right away. This technique that Dickinson uses lets people become apart of the poem by creating their own picture of the scene through the one she imagined.
Dickinson started with the classic poetry styles, but as time when on, she started to use and create styles that became unique to her and her form of expression. A technique that she utilized often, involves dashes and capitalization where an idea needs to be emphasized. In the poem,”If you were coming in the fall,” Dickinson states, “If certain, when this life was out--/That yours and mine, should be,”(4.1-2) Where Dickinson uses a dash to connect the idea that if her and her lover’s current lives ended, their lives together would begin. Tying in the fact that she fell in love with men that could never be hers. When she used capitalization, she showed the importance of the word, or connected that word to another capitalized word. She did this in the poem,”Tell all the Truth but tell it slant,” where she said, “As Lightning to the Children eased/With explanation kind(1.5-6). Where Dickinson really emphasizes, that the lightning (or the fear of lightning) to the children became eased with a kind explanation. In this specific poem, she explained that truth could not be revealed completely, because it had far too much light to be seen in full. And the idea that “telling the truth slant”, consisted of easing it in a way that would not expose the total idea of it. Which people nowadays do, but some might consider it lying. All of this shows how talented she became with her writing, and why Emily Dickinson became one of the most legendary poets to ever write in America.
Explain what you are trying to convey in your poem and the style/ technique
you are trying to convey. In my poem, “A Certain Type of Love,” I talk about love, a common theme in Dickinson’s poetry. Her and I clearly have different love experiences, considering she has had multiple husbands and I am 17, but I tried my best. Like Dickinson, I capitalize some of my words in a line to show the importance of those ideas together. When I use dashes, I use them to break up the poem, giving it a quick pause. Also, I tied in metaphors, as Dickinson did, to relate love to the outside world, proving it is everywhere.