Love

Notes on Emily Dickinson Poems

This is my letter to the world
Theme- nature holds beauty, truth, love
Speaker – nature lover, poet
Imagery/ Symbols – hands = people of the world
Figurative Lang. – metaphor letter = poem, personification (world cannot write to her)
Sound Device – slant rhyme – world and told, dashes – pauses for effect
Structure – 2 quatrains
Tone – hopeful
Mood - hopeful

Hope is a thing with feathers
Theme – hope endures, hope sustains us through life’s hardships
Figurative Lang – metaphor bird = hope, gale = life’s hardships
Sound Devices – slant rhyme – soul/all, dashes for pauses, some rhyme, alliteration, rhythm
Imagery/Symbols – gale/storm = hardships, bird = hope, chill, warm, songs all appeal to senses
Structure – 3 quatrains
Tone – happy, joyful
Mood – hopeful, gladness

Success is counted sweetest
Theme – victory is sweet when it rarely comes, it is appreciated more fully is you do not experience it often
Figurative Lang. – metaphor victory is success, nectar = victory, extended metaphor – soldier dying but discovering that his side won the war (analogy)
Imagery/Symbols – nectar = success, purple host, strains of triumph appeal to Senses, flag = victory
Sound Devices – alliteration, dashes (caesura), rhythm, rhyme
Structure – 3 quatrains
Tone – matter of fact, detached
Mood – agreement

Much Madness is divine Sense
Theme – The majority decides what is acceptable (Sense and craziness are relative)
Figurative Lang – paradox – madness = sense, sense = madness
Imagery/Symbolism – chain = shunned
Sound Devices – alliteration (Much madness), rhyme sane/chain, slant rhyme sense/madness, and dashes.
Structure – 1 Octave
Tone – informative, disgusted
Mood – reflective, thoughtful (resentment towards society)

My Life Closed Twice
Theme – death is a part of life, we are all touched by the deaths of people we know
Fig. Lang – Life closing = death, paradox life closing is heaven and hell
Imagery/Symbols –
Sound Devices – rhyme, dashes
Structure – 2 quatrains
Tone – detached, matter of fact
Mood – depressed

After great pain a formal feeling comes
Theme – grief comes in stages
Fig. Lang. – alliteration, simile nerves …sit like tombs
Imagery/Symbolism – chill = shock, stupor = confusion do not want to accept the news, letting go = grieving (crying)
Sound Devices – alliteration
Structure –2 quatrains and 1 cinquain
Tone – resigned
Mood - melancholy