Preview

Emily Dickinson's Loaded Gun

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
689 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Emily Dickinson's Loaded Gun
In “My Life had stood -a loaded gun-” of Emily Dickinson’s tale about a gun and his master, we learn a rather ambiguous way in which an impious person, even a complete atheist, has the capability and necessary talents, to become a devoted and ecclesiastical individual, when and if God decides it is that person’s moment to become his mediator disciple towards mankind. The individual’s unused deftness is depicted as the “Loaded Gun” before “the Owner passed-identified- and carried Me away”, which is understood as an analogy for the human being able to preach, but only evangelizes when he apprehends God’s word or at the moment he is taught about him. Furthermore, Emily Dickinson reveals us how her shots are echoed back at her through “the mountains …show more content…
Further on, she develops more profound imagery by hyperbolizing and describing explicitly her blasts from the gun into the valley by, “And do I smile, such cordial light, upon the valley glow- It is as a Vesuvian face had let it’s pleasures through.” Indeed, she presents how her acts bring about distinct attitudes from the people who receive the message, more importantly, that of happiness and joy. However, Emily illustrates the relationship between the person and God as a job or burden, since the excerpt, “And when at night our good day done- I guard my master’s head- Tis better than the Eider Duck’s Deep pillow- to have shared-“, appropriately portrays how she won’t share her bed with his master, she is there to protect him, not to have any sort of special relationship with the Master. Certainly, their relation rendered here isn’t personal because they are sketched as being separate from themselves when they …show more content…
This stanza concerns Emily’s signature theme of death, but this time it deals with how her progress and achievements in her life have immortalized her in the minds of people and in paper. However the stanza has an ambiguous meaning since her inability to die and live more than God(Though I than he may longer live, he longer must than I) can implicitly adumbrate that many people won’t remember God bringing them into his church, but instead call forth on her as their light in the darkness. She thinks that God is the true architect in the scheme, not her, but people will remember her more than they will ever do about God. In short, Emily Dickinson delights us with an intricate poem that can be difficult to discern but at last proves worth by revealing to us a powerful and truthful pathway, God still can sow in our

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dickinson's use of metaphors in this poem compares the traditional ways of religion and the church with a different perspective. She effectively compares nature with religion through her imagery. The comparisons between the lack of attendance at church has always been associated with not getting into Heaven, and Dickinson brings comfortable support for those that feel differently. The truest form of prayer and belief starts from within a person. Emily Dickinson confirms that with this brief but powerful…

    • 79 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first stanza Dickinson wrote that the nineteenth century woman spent the early part of her life waiting for a man to direct it. The woman, like most nineteenth century women, spent the early part of her life in her family 's home under the rule of her father. She stood in the corners not really being used or appreciated and not being completely directed or told what to do. The "Loaded Gun" symbolizes the woman 's life, meaning that she had spent her life waiting around until "The Owner passed - identified - / And carried" (3-4) her away. She awaited the day when a man would come to identify and choose her for a wife or otherwise stay in the same home under her father 's rule for the rest of her life much like Emily Dickinson did herself. When she married the husband took on the role of the "Owner" and the woman became another possession the husband controlled. The woman, or "Loaded Gun," being a tool ready for use and in need of ownership to amount to anything.…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson, a chief figure in American literature, wrote hundreds of poems in her lifetime using unusual syntax and form. Several if not all her poems revolved around themes of nature, illness, love, and death. Dickinson’s poem, Because I could not stop for Death, a lyric with a jarring volta conflates several themes with an air of ambiguity leaving multiple interpretations open for analysis. Whether death is a lover and immortality their chaperone, a deceiver and seducer of the speaker to lead her to demise, or a timely truth of life, literary devices such as syntax, selection of detail, and diction throughout the poem support and enable these different understandings to stand alone.…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson compares real historical characters to the Antique Book, giving it the qualities of a fine gentleman. It is a "precious pleasure" to meet such a gentleman who will entice with and tell of his radical but thrilling notions. What must mesmerize Emily in the "Antique Book" are realistic images…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson’s main purpose in poem 355 is to describe an indefinable depression. She creates a melancholy persona to depict the chaos and despair she feels because of her condition. Her poem is structured around her uncertainty towards her mental state. Dickinson, in the first two stanzas, eliminates possibilities to what she may be feeling. She analyzes that “it was not death”, “it was not night”, “it was not frost”, “nor fire”. The poem appeals to the human sense of touch, as Dickinson compares tangible sensations that the body normally experiences to her tumultuous emotions. In the third stanza, Dickinson synthesizes all of the possibilities she eradicated in the previous two stanzas, ominously stating that her condition “tasted like them all”. The narrator is unable to distinguish her feelings from one another, leading the reader to conclude that she is in a chaotic state of mind. She compares her condition to a funeral, both of which evoke death. In the fourth stanza, Dickinson continues to explore her persona’s dark psyche. The narrator experiences terror and despair to the point where she “could not breathe.” Her only “key” to escape this punishment is to be able to understand what she is feeling and why…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The first line indicates the theme by using the word "death". In a critical analysis of the poem by Allen Tate, he says that "every image is precise and moreover not merely beautiful, but fused with the central idea" which in the poem is death (Tate, 84). Engle's main point on "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" is that Dickinson uses the poem to refute death in its entirety. She begins by citing the opening line of the poem. Engle interprets this line to mean that Death, as an end point, ceases to be: "It is simply not her nature to stop for Death. She realizes that she cannot recognize Death's power over her. Once she reckons with that eternal or divine bent within her, Death stops; that is, Death ceases to be what Death is- and end," (Engle 74). This brings in the other character in the poem that also takes the carriage ride with, almost posing as a silent chaperone. This character is Immortality. If these two men are separate entities, what is Emily Dickinson asserting about the end of human life? This seems slightly unclear.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson's Defunct

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    After studying a bunch of Emily Dickinson’s poems and learning a little bit of background about her, I have discovered that I really appreciate the complexity of her work, and when I first read Marilyn Nelson Waniek’s poem, “Emily Dickinson’s Defunct,” a poem written about Dickinson, I found it to be very interesting. It was fascinating, one, because it valued Dickinson and her work, and two, because it reminded me of another one of my favorite poems, “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” by Billy Collins. The reason it reminded me of Collins’ poem was because of Waniek’s allusions to Dickinson’s poetry throughout the poem, which Collins did a lot in his poem. There are many aspects of this poem that interest me but the top three are the speed of the poem, the many allusions to Dickinson’s work, and the bluntness, comicality, and contradiction of how Waniek describes Dickinson.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Emily Dickinson might be called an artisan, since most of her poems have fewer than thirty lines, yet she deals with the most deep topics in poetry: death, love, and humanity’s relations to God and nature. Her poetry not only impresses by its on going freshness but also the animation. Her use of language and approachness of her subjects in unique ways, might attribute to why “Hope is the thing with feathers” is one of her most famous works.…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Because I could not stop for death,” Dickinson’s impressive uses of imagery clearly illustrate every aspect of the things around the speaker as she leaves…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Emily Dickinson is one of the famous and fabulous female poets in the world. Her poems, for all their innovative brilliance, are nonetheless outpourings of her private feelings. And just like her great masterpieces, her enigmatic character will never fall into oblivion. Emily Dickinson’s poetry has been the focus of researchers, such as nature ,love and death. But one fourth of her poetry is about the theme of death. Obviously, death is her most beloving theme of her poems. Death is always the endearing topic of many artists and philosophers. While in Emily's eyes, death is different from others. In her eyes, death is not dead, death is beautiful , fantastic and mystical which most of us couldn't understand and imagine. So we want to probe…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Emily Dickinson Beliefs

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Emily Elizabeth Dickinson is one of the most influential poets and has unique characteristics that make her very different than any other poet. What causes Dickinson to be so unique is the words she writes and how she expresses her thoughts with them. Since a very young age, Emily Dickinson has always been captivated with religion and death. It aided that her room had a view of a cemetery and that her father was extremely religious. Her philosophies covered the Christian faith and how she felt about the church in her poem, “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church;” also, “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain,” gave different perspectives on how she felt about funerals and death. She had only a few inspirations that helped her in her writing and influenced…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the history of human kind, there have existed a significant number of poets, who did not care to write about “happy things.” Rather, they concerned themselves with unpleasant and sinister concepts, such as death. Fascination and personification of death has become a common theme in poetry, but very few poets mastered it as well as Emily Dickinson did. Although most of Dickinson’s poems are morbid, a reader has no right to overlook the aesthetic beauty with which she embellishes her “dark” art. It is apparent that for Dickinson, death is more than an event, which occurs at least once in a lifetime of every being. For her, death is a person, who will take her away with Him, when the right time comes,…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With her unique writing style and unconventional poetry, Emily Dickinson is regarded as one of the greatest American authors. She is a renowned figure and emerged as an outstanding poet in the 20th century, and I believe Dickinson is an essential poet to study. Each poem is distinctly unique while reflecting Dickinson’s own style, and she often uses thought provoking themes and symbols that create depth to her writing. Her poems indict questions and curiosity and entice the reader to read more of her poems. As nature was her God, Dickinson’s poems have an idiosyncratic take on faith, which broadens the horizons of her readers and encourages them to think about God as they immerse themselves in nature, like Dickinson did. Furthermore, I think there is great value in understanding other’s beliefs, and Dickinson incorporated her beliefs into her poetry.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He cannot just come and take her, but a third party, Immortality, must come along and chaperon their ride, to make sure that Death does not do anything improper. Also, Death cannot rush, but has to drive slowly, because he is not simply in the business of grabbing souls; he has taste and sensibility.”(Kenneth) Because of Dickinson's religious belief in immortal life, the significance of Death itself is diminished. It is as powerless in this situation as the person who is being carried away and “as trapped by manners as the dying are by biology.”(Kenneth)Dickinson uses the personification of Death as a metaphor throughout the poem. Here, Death is a gentleman; It would have been scandalous for a young, unmarried 19th century woman to take a carriage ride alone with a strange gentleman. In this instance, a chaperon named Immortality rides with them. This is another example of personification.” Though the poem's speaker offers no description of Immortality, one might imagine an ageless-looking little woman in a gray dress.”(Marie) Death is not frightening, or even intimidating, reaper, but rather a courteous and gentle guide, leading her to eternity. The speaker feels no fear when Death picks her up in his carriage; she just sees it as an act of kindness, as she was too busy to find time for him. It is this kindness, this individual attention to her it is emphasized in the first stanza that the carriage holds just the two of them, doubly so because of the internal rhyme in “held” and “ourselves”—that leads the speaker to so easily give up on her life and what it contained. This is explicitly stated, as it is “For His Civility” that she puts away her “labor” and her “leisure,” which is Dickinson using metonymy to represent another alliterative word her…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson is unquestionably one of the most significant, innovative, and renowned American poets. She did not always receive such high praise, however, as most of her fame and honor was obtained long after she died. While she was alive, she lived most of her life isolated from society as a recluse. During this reclusion, however, she wrote almost eighteen hundred poems, and one of these included “Because I could not stop for Death” (Mays 1187). This is one of her most popular poems and that is in part because it allows the audience to analyze the topic of death and the struggle to come to grip with one’s own demise. The concept of Death is humanized within this poem. “He” is portrayed as a groom and a conductor, as much as he is a robber…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays