Emily Dickinson, a woman of the 19th century, was preoccupied with poetry and the power of words.
The opening line of the poem My Life had stood- a Loaded Gun is noteworthy for its liberal use of capitalisation. The capitalisation of “My Life” delineates the life of the speaker as the subject of the poem and establishes the poem as autobiographical, positioning the reader the attribute the speaker’s voice to Dickinson both as a woman and as a poet. “Loaded Gun” is presented as a metaphor for the speaker’s life, implying force and power. However, by describing it as merely “Loaded” Dickinson evokes an internal sense of readiness that hints at a foreboding potential. There is also an irony to this potential as the speaker’s life becomes objectified …show more content…
The anaphora “And Now” shifts the poem from past to present tense, impressing upon the reader that the gun’s potential is contingent upon the “Owner”. The setting of the hunt is delineated as “Sovereign Woods”, a possible metaphor for a male dominated world as in the 19th century hunting was the domain of men. Moreover, given the 19th century context, the “Woods” may symbolise freedom in the same way that the unexplored frontiers of America represented unclaimed potential. Here, Dickinson alludes to herself being granted agency access into the previously taboo domain of men. However Dickinson impresses upon the reader that this agency has come at a sacrifice. “Doe” could as easily have been replaced with “deer” or “buck,” but Dickinson purposefully employed the female form, thus “We hunt the Doe” implies the destruction of a female identity in order to gain access and acceptance in a male realm. This is exacerbated within the next line when the “Owner” becomes a “him”. When the female does “speak for Him,” “The Mountains straight reply—”. Dickinson suggests that when a woman makes a decision that is normally a man’s, or ventures to write something, she gets nowhere and is met with obstacles as symbolised by the “Mountains”. Dickinson masks violence in pleasant language creating an oxymoron where “cordial light” is used to describe the spark of a gunshot. The …show more content…
However, this is followed by the plosive alliteration of “Day done” which mimics an explosive sound as the words are pushed from the reader’s mouth. Again, Dickinson masks the lethal power of these words in purposive manipulation of language, only this time it becomes almost mocking, as if the speaker revels in this subversion. Moreover, the manipulation of language links the words of the poem to the metaphor of the gun and suggesting that the gun is a metaphor for Dickinson’s pen and thus her life as a poet. Kristeva (1980) asserts that “insofar as language is the symbolic structure that constitutes the social order, Dickinson’s disruption of language and syntax might… register or anticipate a revolutionary transformation in the political sphere.” While it is true that Dickinson is subverting conventions, to call it a revolution appears excessive; the poem, like Dickinson herself, is still grounded within the defined a structure. This is expanded upon in the next line which delineates the office of the gun in “guard[ing its] master’s head”, whereby instead of acquiring agency the imagery reflects the perpetual mastering of the gun by the owner. And yet, to the gun, this state is favourable to the inactivity of the “Eider-Duck’s Depp pillow”, an idea made more unappealing through the repetition of the plosive alliteration as in “Day done”.
The opening line of the poem My Life had stood- a Loaded Gun is noteworthy for its liberal use of capitalisation. The capitalisation of “My Life” delineates the life of the speaker as the subject of the poem and establishes the poem as autobiographical, positioning the reader the attribute the speaker’s voice to Dickinson both as a woman and as a poet. “Loaded Gun” is presented as a metaphor for the speaker’s life, implying force and power. However, by describing it as merely “Loaded” Dickinson evokes an internal sense of readiness that hints at a foreboding potential. There is also an irony to this potential as the speaker’s life becomes objectified …show more content…
The anaphora “And Now” shifts the poem from past to present tense, impressing upon the reader that the gun’s potential is contingent upon the “Owner”. The setting of the hunt is delineated as “Sovereign Woods”, a possible metaphor for a male dominated world as in the 19th century hunting was the domain of men. Moreover, given the 19th century context, the “Woods” may symbolise freedom in the same way that the unexplored frontiers of America represented unclaimed potential. Here, Dickinson alludes to herself being granted agency access into the previously taboo domain of men. However Dickinson impresses upon the reader that this agency has come at a sacrifice. “Doe” could as easily have been replaced with “deer” or “buck,” but Dickinson purposefully employed the female form, thus “We hunt the Doe” implies the destruction of a female identity in order to gain access and acceptance in a male realm. This is exacerbated within the next line when the “Owner” becomes a “him”. When the female does “speak for Him,” “The Mountains straight reply—”. Dickinson suggests that when a woman makes a decision that is normally a man’s, or ventures to write something, she gets nowhere and is met with obstacles as symbolised by the “Mountains”. Dickinson masks violence in pleasant language creating an oxymoron where “cordial light” is used to describe the spark of a gunshot. The …show more content…
However, this is followed by the plosive alliteration of “Day done” which mimics an explosive sound as the words are pushed from the reader’s mouth. Again, Dickinson masks the lethal power of these words in purposive manipulation of language, only this time it becomes almost mocking, as if the speaker revels in this subversion. Moreover, the manipulation of language links the words of the poem to the metaphor of the gun and suggesting that the gun is a metaphor for Dickinson’s pen and thus her life as a poet. Kristeva (1980) asserts that “insofar as language is the symbolic structure that constitutes the social order, Dickinson’s disruption of language and syntax might… register or anticipate a revolutionary transformation in the political sphere.” While it is true that Dickinson is subverting conventions, to call it a revolution appears excessive; the poem, like Dickinson herself, is still grounded within the defined a structure. This is expanded upon in the next line which delineates the office of the gun in “guard[ing its] master’s head”, whereby instead of acquiring agency the imagery reflects the perpetual mastering of the gun by the owner. And yet, to the gun, this state is favourable to the inactivity of the “Eider-Duck’s Depp pillow”, an idea made more unappealing through the repetition of the plosive alliteration as in “Day done”.