Emily Dickinson
The Belle of Amherst
Biography
 For much of her life, she seldom left her home

Eccentric reputation
 Possibility of unrequited love—Reverend Charles Wadsworth,
Otis P. Lord, and Samuel Bowles
 Poetry influenced by metaphysical poets of 17th century
England and her own Puritan upbringing

Did not read her contemporary Whitman
 Poetry published after her death—family discovered forty
volumes of nearly 1,800 poems total
 Common themes of her poetry: death, immortality, religion
Tell all the truth but tell it
slant (1263)
 You can’t handle the truth…
 What does it mean to tell the truth “slant”? What is Dickinson
arguing we should do?
 What does “in circuit” mean?
 Truth as “superb surprise”? Is that good or bad?
 Explain the simile in the poem…
 How does the poem itself achieve Dickinson’s directive in
telling truth with a “slant”?
 How honest are “slant” truths?
 Can truth represent or symbolize something else?
This is my letter to the world
 What does the letter symbolize?
 Who is the world? Who is she writing to?
 Who never wrote back to her? What is this a
metaphor for? Is she angry?
 What does the dash in the second line imply?
 Who is her message committed to?
 Any alternate understandings of the poem?
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died
 Response to 19th century poems on death 
challenging convention
 Significance of “when I died”?
 Explain the simile in the first stanza
 Explain the scene in the second stanza? What
does she mean by “The Eyes around – had
wrung them dry”?
 Who is the “King”?
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died
 Switching tone—what is she willing away?
 The fly is back!
 What sound does it make?
 Meaning of “interposed”?
 What is the fly coming in between?
 What are the “Windows”?
 How does the poem end?
My life closed twice before its close
 Simultaneously personal and universal
 Major theme: death
 What metaphors of vision does Dickinson use?
 What is this third event that she is referring to?
 Explain the concept of heaven and hell in this poem? What is
the paradox that she explains?
 What are some examples of personification in this poem?
 What is a song or movie that you know that relates to the
message of this poem?
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
 What is the poem about?
 What is the funeral a metaphor for? What part of
her is dying?
 What is ironic about the comparison to a funeral?
 Explain the repetition of “treading,” “beating” and
the “bell[s]”—what do they add to the poem?
 Explain what occurs in the final stanza…
 Why the unfinished poem?
The Soul selects her own Society
 What is this poem about? Is this poem about
friendship? About romance?
 Examples of metaphors or imagery in this poem?
 How is God included in this poem? How is He
significant?
 Explain the relation of Chariots and the Emperor to
the soul…
 When does the soul “close the Valves of her
attention”?
There’s a certain Slant of light
 Describe the role of light in the
poem…
 Explain the simile in the first
stanza...
 What is the Heavenly Hurt
(paradox)? What is the role of
God/religion in the poem?
 Why use the word “imperial”?
 What is the role of Death in the
poem?
Much madness in divinest Sense
 What is madness?
 What is sanity?
 What is the majority’s
role?
 Assent vs. Demur?
 Applicable to Dickinson’s
life?
The Bustle in a House
 What is this poem about?
 What are two possible interpretations for “The
Morning after Death”?
 Why does Dickinson capitalize Bustle? What is so
significant about the word?
 What metaphors does she use in the second stanza?
 What are the two possible interpretations of “putting
Love away”?
I taste a liquor never brewed
 What is this poem about? What
is the metaphor that Dickinson
uses throughout the poem?
 What is the mood in the poem?
Compare it to her other
poems…
 Why the inclusion of angels?
 Explain the image at the end of
the poem…
Success is counted sweetest
 What is the paradox she describes in the
poem?

Explain the nectar example…
•
Explain the soldier example...
•
Do you agree with Dickinson? Does she
describe a truth? Relate it to your own
life...
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
 What is Dickinson’s main idea?
 What does it mean to be Nobody?
What does it mean to be Somebody?
 Explain the metaphor of the frog…
 What is the “admiring Bog”?
 Why could Dickinson be writing this?
A Bird, came down the Walk
 What is Dickinson describing?
 How does the bird have elements of both
“humanness” and “wildness”?
 Explain how the bird’s attitude/actions change
from stanza one to four?
 Why is the bird cautious in stanza three and
four?
 Dickinson describes the flight of the bird using
what two metaphors?
Because I could not stop for Death
 Who is Death portrayed as?
 How does the speaker feel about Death?
 Describe the drive—what do they pass?
What does that represent?
 What is the “House”?
 What is the ‘big reveal’ at the end of the
poem?