Emily Dickinson
American Literature
Cecilia H.C. Liu
12/27/2004
Outline
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#448
#449
#465
#501
#712
Interpretation
Interpretation
Interpretation
Interpretation
Interpretation
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#754 Interpretation
#986 Interpretation
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#1078 Interpretation
#1624 Interpretation
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References
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#448
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This is a piece of poem that puts emphasis upon the poet’s
construction of a poem, which the word “distillation” in the second
line of the first stanza came from the sense of distillation of alcohol
and perfume.
This particular stanza suggests that the meanings and images the
poet puts on the page would fill up the room, as immense as “Attar.”
The first line of the second stanza, the phrase, “familiar species,”
suggest the sense of ordinary meanings in the poem, the surface
meaning of the poem.
Finally, Dickinson portrays in the last stanza in the second line with
the word “Robbing,” which suggests that when we read poet’s
poetry, we would be stealing something from him. However,
Dickinson suggests in the following lines that designates that this
act would not bring harm to the poet at all; rather, it would become
a fortune through time for the poet, which designates the sense of
the fame and poems of the poet living on.
#449
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A poem about death
The pattern of the poem follows many of
Dickinson's typical formal patterns--the
ABCB rhyme scheme, the rhythmic use of
the dash to interrupt the flow--but has a
more regular meter, so that the first and
third lines in each stanza are iambic
tetrameter, while the second and fourth
lines are iambic trimeter, creating a fourthree-four-three stress pattern in each
stanza.
#449
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This piece of poem describes two dead persons talking to each other in
the tomb, which the speaker of the poem, the persona, takes “truth” and
“beauty” as the ideal image. In the first line of the second stanza,
Dickinson used the word “failed” as the synonym of “die.”
Therefore, she suggests that the speaker has died for beauty and truth,
but not because he has failed his life all along. The first two stanza of the
poem reflects the last line of John Keat’s Ode on a Grecian Urn, “Truth is
beauty. Beauty is truth.”
The last stanza of the poem suggests that the inscriptions on the tomb
have become invisible due to the weather, and that “names” could refer
to different persons. In addition, dashes in this poem represent a sort of
different bridge to different ideas, which serves the function of a
conjunction or transition. What is more, what is interesting to note in this
poem is that it was Truth who asks questions, which had been quoted by
Beauty.
#465
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This piece of poem focuses on the idea of
ecstasy or vision
This poem captures the last thoughts and
sensations of a person on her death bed.
Surrounded by mourners who are bracing
themselves for her death, the narrator's focus
as she dies is on the most mundane of living
creatures: a buzzing fly. The final ebb of
consciousness is depicted as a loss of light and
sight: "And then the Windows failed--and then /
I could not see to see--."
#501
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The poem itself is about ecstasy or vision
The opening pronouncement of the first line is made
all the more emphatic and unequivocal by the
period that closes it off , while dashes are rarely
used by Dickinson in this poem.
In addition, “music” is the metaphor that clarifies
and verifies the reality of an invisible species that
stands beyond
#501
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“narcotics”:orthodox enthusiasm
The passages of the poem wittily sum up the
history of Christian belief in afterlife, and talks
about the present age's shallow struggling for
faith as well as introducing the inability of current
frenzies of orthodox enthusiasm to satisfy the
urge and irrepressible need for authentic faith.
Dickinson addresses the question not only of
belief versus disbelief, but also of authentic
versus inauthentic belief in her time.
#712
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This piece of poem involves with many images that
have been personified.
First, the poem describes how the speaker of the poem
is having a date with Death, and that Immortality in the
poem is described as the maiden or courtship that
goes along with the speaker to protect or take care of
her.
Dickinson used the method of flashback method of the
poem to suggest what had happened before the
speaker’s death, in the third to fifth stanza of the poem.
Furthermore, in the fourth stanza, Dickinson used the
word He, which this word here is as well personified,
as “time,” suggesting that the time of the speaker is up,
and the speaker of the poem is actually chilled by the
persona.
#712
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What is also interesting in the poem is that, Death in the poem
is represented as a patriarchal man in the society, for he gets
to make the decision, and provide everything for the family, the
possibility of which the speaker does not run away or could
have run away from Death when he attempts to seize her day
on earth.
Previously repressed and forbidden erotic drives were
contained and made permissible by a displacement to a safely
unobtainable love object. The aggression and hostility
stimulated by Dickinson’s frustrated needs of love has also
found their way into the poems. Some of this hostility
expressed in her obsession with death and in her agoraphobia
had made her a prisoner in her father's house for the last
fifteen years of her life.
#754
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This is basically a poem about entrapment
The themes of the poem evolve around the fusion of
sexuality and destructiveness as well as the poet's
acceptance of masculine components of her personality.
“The term, My life had stood" suggest that the speaker’s
vitality had laid unused, with her potential lay dormant.
The term, "a Loaded Gun": suggested the speaker had
all within her of what she needed for effective action and
expression, but this same term could also suggest
something sexual -- phallic -- and destructive, a dormant,
repressed potential for aggression.
#754
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The term, "In Corners,“ suggest that these abilities were
stagnating, or hidden away.
In addition, the poem also imply in "Till a day/ The Owner
passed” that the owner has an unfamiliar aspect of her own
divided self that suddenly came to her awareness, which had
become accessible to consciousness.)
In the poem, the speaker suggest that her former incomplete
personality was overwhelmed, while the new sectors of her
personality is masculinized. When Emily Dickinson has
emerged herself into a poet, it could have only been her
identification with her active father and her brother that came
to the fore, and not with her passive and inadequate mother.
#754
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"And now We roam in Sovereign Woods": In addition,
Dickinson embarks on the idea of what she fancies as
characteristically masculine adventures. The active,
aggressive, aspect of my masculinized personality is now in
full command of its emotional energy.
The term, "The Sovereign Woods" may suggest the domain
of poetry , or of love.
"And now we Hunt the Doe": It seems appropriate for the
male to hunt the female deer, the Doe. The object of
aggression is conspicuously female. But the doe is also an
erotic object. The doe may represent poetry, beauty. The doe
is swift, delicate elusive, wild, hypersensitive.)
#754
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In this poem, the gun and mountain do suggest sexual
symbols, since the discharging gun could represent as a
masculine orgasm; the echo from the mountains—breast
like—a responsive orgasm from the female symbol.
In this poem, the yellow eye is the explosive flash at the end
of the barrel of the gun and the thumb is the bullet, and this
suggest that anything which impedes the free creative
expression of my erotic and aggressive impulses must
brave the threat of the speaker’s destructive wrath.
Finally, the last few lines of the poem were the most
powerful one, suggesting that the speaker does have her
own will and power to control, and not have her physical life
extinguished.
#986
It is a poem that evolves the theme of nature,
written in 1865.
 A year later, it was published anonymously
under the title of “The Snake” in a journal
called the Springfield Republican. The natural
world is portrayed vividly throughout
Dickinson’s work, and this poem closely
examines one of nature’s most infamous
creatures—the snake.
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#986
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In addition, this piece of poem portrays a
sense of riddle within, which begins with a
description of the shock of encountering a
snake, while the poem goes on to illustrate
how snakes can be deceptive—similar to
the idea portrayed in the garden of Eden.
#1078
This piece of poem, like #712, is also a poem
about death
 “industries” suggests a period of time
 Contrastbustle v. solemn
 The speaker suggests that we have to let go
sad feelings and not look back—“The
sweeping up the heart and putting love away”;
“we shall not want to use again until eternity”
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#1624
Like the previous, this poem is also a
description of about death, which describes
the cold, unfeeling attitude of nature.
 The choice of diction in the first stanza is
especially effective in portraying the unfeeling
randomness of nature. For instance, “happy”
suggest a sense of innocence and life in the
flower.
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#1624
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In addition, “behead” suggests violence and brutality
Dickinson demonstrates the randomness of nature
and reminds the reader that nature has no real
malevolence.
Dickinson’s choice of diction in the second stanza also
portrays the indifference of nature and God.
“The sun proceeds unmoved” portrays the sense to
show that nature has no concern for life or anything
else.
The phrase, “an approving God,” portrays the sense
of something ironic, that even God Himself is
indifferent to the suffering in nature.
Reference
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Armand, Barton Levi St. Emily Dickinson and Her Culture:
The Soul’s Society. New York: Cambridge UP, 1984. 39-77.
Frisch, Karen. “Childhood Diseases in the Victorian Age.”
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article
=5552
“American Trascendentalism: An On-line Travel Guide.”
http://www.shepherd.edu/transweb/amherst.htm
“Emily Dickinson.”
http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?s
ite=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.findagrave.com%2Fpictures%2
F282.html
References 2
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Reuben, Paul. PAL: Perspectives in American
Literature
A Research and Reference Guide - An Ongoing Project
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap4/dicki
nson.html#study
“Dickinson, Emily.”http://mchip00.med.nyu.edu/litmed/lit-med-db/webdocs/webauthors/dickinson73-au.html
“Emily Dickinson.”
http://jade.ccccd.edu/Andrade/WorldLitII2333/LectureE
milyDickinson.html
“A Narrow Fellow in the Grass: Introduction.”
http://www.enotes.com/narrow-fellow/