Emily Dickinson Imagery
In Emily Dickinson’s poem “I am afraid to own a Body” the speaker primarily uses sound to posit the overall theme of the poem. More specifically, she uses incoherent and disjointed repetition (notably alliteration and assonance) and slant rhymes that scatter the poem but do not fall into any pattern to suggest her own inability to conform to expected or desired patterns of being a human. The background imagery of inheritance to which the poem alludes complements these expected patterns.
The first thing one should notice about Dickinson’s poem is the amount of repetition seen and heard throughout: every line has some kind of alliteration or assonance. The first two lines are almost identical: “I am afraid to own a Body” and “I am afraid to own …show more content…
The first line “Double estate – entailed at pleasure” suggests this imagery (5). The word “Estate” implies responsibility, honor, and social patterns (5). However, this line serves to cultivate the disjointed repetition tactic Dickinson employs; the words “Estate” and “entailed” are assonant, but again a hyphen separates the words, forcing the speaker and reader to pause (5). The next lines “Upon an unsuspecting Heir – / Duke in a moment of Deathlessnes” continues the imagery of inheritance and patterns, as the use of “Heir” and “Duke” suggest responsibilities and expectations (6-7). This, of course, contrasts to the obvious lack of any pattern in terms of the sound of the poem. In line 7 the tenuous pattern of repetitive alliteration prevails, but in a manner that – like in every other line – belies the presence of any actual pattern: “Duke” and “Deathlessness” are alliterative, but are at opposite ends of the line. Finally, the final line “And God, for a Frontier” continues the erratic pattern of repetition (8). The alliteration pattern of words jump from being at opposite sides of the line in line 7 to being almost next to each other in this final line (i.e. “for” and “Frontier”(8)). There is also a slant rhyme in this second stanza: “Heir” and “Frontier”, which lends to the theme of almost but not quite ever actually fitting somewhere; the speaker is indeed an “Heir” that cannot quite fit into the “Frontier” that is her existence
The first thing one should notice about Dickinson’s poem is the amount of repetition seen and heard throughout: every line has some kind of alliteration or assonance. The first two lines are almost identical: “I am afraid to own a Body” and “I am afraid to own …show more content…
The first line “Double estate – entailed at pleasure” suggests this imagery (5). The word “Estate” implies responsibility, honor, and social patterns (5). However, this line serves to cultivate the disjointed repetition tactic Dickinson employs; the words “Estate” and “entailed” are assonant, but again a hyphen separates the words, forcing the speaker and reader to pause (5). The next lines “Upon an unsuspecting Heir – / Duke in a moment of Deathlessnes” continues the imagery of inheritance and patterns, as the use of “Heir” and “Duke” suggest responsibilities and expectations (6-7). This, of course, contrasts to the obvious lack of any pattern in terms of the sound of the poem. In line 7 the tenuous pattern of repetitive alliteration prevails, but in a manner that – like in every other line – belies the presence of any actual pattern: “Duke” and “Deathlessness” are alliterative, but are at opposite ends of the line. Finally, the final line “And God, for a Frontier” continues the erratic pattern of repetition (8). The alliteration pattern of words jump from being at opposite sides of the line in line 7 to being almost next to each other in this final line (i.e. “for” and “Frontier”(8)). There is also a slant rhyme in this second stanza: “Heir” and “Frontier”, which lends to the theme of almost but not quite ever actually fitting somewhere; the speaker is indeed an “Heir” that cannot quite fit into the “Frontier” that is her existence