Evaluating Poetry Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is regarded as one of America’s greatest poets; she was born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Dickinson was well educated and attended Mount Holyoke Seminary, although she only attended for one year, the longest time she ever spent away from home. Dickinson would go on to live a very reclusive life, in a sort of self-imposed solitude. Dickinson’s early years were not without turmoil however, and the death of several close friends and family members would prompt her to question death and immortality, as noted in several of her poems. Although she spent much of her adult life as a recluse, she had many companions that she corresponded with through letters. Dickinson also spent a great deal of time reading, and drew inspiration from other poets, such as Robert and Elizabeth Browning, as well as the Bronte sisters. In her lifetime Dickinson composed nearly 1800 poems, although she only shared them with her family and friends, less than a dozen of her works were published in her lifetime. Emily Dickinson died in 1886, from what is now thought to be Bright’s disease; it was after her death that her sister, Lavinia, came across all of her poetry while settling her affairs. In 1890 Poems by Emily Dickinson was published after being edited by friends, Mabel Todd and T.W. Higginson. It is important to know that many of the early publications of Dickinson’s work were heavily edited, and as a result there are several versions of many of her poems available. Although not extensively published during her lifetime, Dickinson’s poems were considered unique for her time, with short broken lines, a lack of titles, her use of slant rhyme, and her unconventional punctuation. Because Dickinson’s poems contained no title, the first line of the poem is used as a reference for her works. Because I Could Not Stop for Death, is a lyric poem, on a recurring theme for Dickinson, death. In analyzing this poem I choose the version from the Introduction to Literature text, this version contained six stanzas, rather than the five stanzas that I encountered in other readings. In the poem it becomes apparent the Dickinson does not fear death, but rather calmly accepts is, death simply becomes another visitor, taking her on a carriage ride. The poem takes us on a journey with Dickinson, and her companions Death and Immortality. Throughout the journey Dickinson uses great symbolism to reflect the passing of her life. In the first two stanzas, Death and Immortality are given human like characteristics, with Immortality being a passenger in her carriage, and Death being the driver that ‘stops’ for her. In the third stanza, Dickinson reflects on the stages of her life, the children in the playground symbolize her childhood, the ‘fields of grazing grain’ (11) represent her mature adult life, and the ‘setting sun’(12), her life coming to its end. In the fourth and fifth stanzas Dickinson describes her tomb as a house, where each of the passing centuries seems shorter than a day; these lines represent her acceptance of death, and her fearless passing to the other side. In Because I Could Not Stop for Death Dickinson uses unique word choice as well as several literary devices to convey the feeling in the poem. The poem itself is six stanzas, with each stanza containing four lines, the second and fourth lines of stanzas 1,2,4,5, and 6 rhyme. The use of alliteration throughout the poem lends itself to the calm, unhurried nature of the poem, ‘he knew no haste’ (5), ‘My labor, and my leisure’(7). In stanza three, where there is no distinct rhyme scheme we encounter anaphora, this helps with the flow of the poem, ‘We passed the school….We passed the fields…We passed the setting sun.’(9-12). Word choice plays a role in the interpretation of the poem, as they help to better envision the meaning, the choice of gossamer, and tulle instead of thin garment gives a much richer meaning to the text. These as well as her use of a house to describe her tomb, and her passage into death as a carriage ride, help to lend a calm feeling of acceptance. I’m Nobody! Who Are You?, is perhaps one of Dickinson’s best known poems, it is a very short, lyric poem on people who seek fame, and the foolishness of those people. This poem is a great example of how Dickinson uses unusual capitalization and punctuation to get the point, and feeling of her poem across to the reader. In the first stanza I’m nobody is written as ‘I’M nobody!, with the emphasis on herself, or the reader. It is keen to note that Dickinson was not famous in her time, and choose to live a life of privacy; it is as if she is defending her choice of solitude as well as mocking those who chose a life in the public eye. Dickinson also uses simile in a unique way, comparing the fame seekers to frogs, while the public is compared to a bog; this forces the reader to think harder about the comparison as frogs are typically thought of as public figures, nor people as bogs. This poem gives the reader the impression that it would be awful to be ‘somebody’, in doing so takes delight in being a ‘nobody’. I think the punctuation and the capitalization in this poem lead the reader to feel an almost witty banter, ‘Then there’s a pair of us – don’t tell!’(3). I’m Nobody! Who Are You?, is a two stanza poem, each stanza has four lines, this is called a quatrain. Although the punctuation of this poem at first makes the reading a bit tricky, Dickinson uses literary tools to make the poem flow very nicely for the reader. The internal rhyming in the first stanza really helps to set the tone for the rest of relaxes the reader, and puts them in a playful state of mind in reference to being a ‘nobody’. In contrast the alliteration used to describe the ‘somebody’ is sharp, and not inviting at all, ‘To tell your name the live long day’ (7). The combination of the language used, the punctuation, and the simile makes it very easy to see why this is one of Dickinson’s most famous poems. Hope is the Thing with Feathers is a beautiful poem that uses the simile of hope as a free-spirited bird. Dickinson uses a great deal of imagery, metaphor, and simile to help the reader understand her vision of hope. Hope is an abstract thing, with no finite imagery, Dickinson uses the bird to help the reader visualize hope, ‘That perches…and sings’ (2-3). Although there is a lot of punctuation in this short poem, there is none of the characteristic dashes and pauses that one usually finds with Dickinson poems. I believe this is because the visual image of the bird does not lend itself well to short and abrupt text. The poem goes on to further describe the bird (hope), it sings without end, it is heard ‘sweetest in the gale’ (5), but it is also heard in the ‘chilliest land’ (9), and through all this hope never asks anything of the reader. Dickinson helps the reader to see that hope is a boundless thing, with its home being in your soul, it will never tire, and will be there in the darkest times; and though it does all these things it never asks anything of the receiver. Hope is the Thing with Feathers is a three stanza poem, each stanza has four lines. The meter of the poem is an alternating rhythm between iambic trimeter, and iambic tetrameter. The meter along with the Dickinson’s popular use of slant rhyme, ‘And sore must be the storm, That kept so many warm’ (6,8) is what gives the poem a relaxed feel while stressing its important message. The use of imagery as well as the literary tools is what really makes this poem come alive. Dickinson’s poems are short, but not usually to the point, they require insight by the reader to develop their full meanings. She uses many literary devices to convey her purpose and meaning, it is because of these literary devices that Dickinson is able to convey such deep feelings with so few words. Dickinson is a very easy poet for someone to relate to as she writes in a style where the reader is often the ‘I’. She was also very keen on pointing out the obvious, things that almost anyone has seen or felt in their lifetime. It is all of these things that made Emily Dickinson a unique poet of her time, and one of America’s greatest poets.

References
Brownell, J. e. (2006). Emily Dickinson Poems. Edison: Castle Books.
Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved November 16m 2011, from Trustees of Amherst College website, http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emilys_biography

Johnson, T. H. (1960). Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little Brown.
Landry, A. S., & Allen, W. R. (2000). Introduction to Literature Sixth Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

The Complete Poems: Emily Dickenson. Retrieved November 17, 2011

References: Brownell, J. e. (2006). Emily Dickinson Poems. Edison: Castle Books. Emily Dickinson Museum. Retrieved November 16m 2011, from Trustees of Amherst College website, http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emilys_biography Johnson, T. H. (1960). Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little Brown. Landry, A. S., & Allen, W. R. (2000). Introduction to Literature Sixth Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. The Complete Poems: Emily Dickenson. Retrieved November 17, 2011