“A Solemn Thing—it was—I said”
When one hears the name, “Emily Dickinson,” the image of a famous woman poet holed up in her room writing about death while secluding herself from the rest of the world instantly comes to mind. Contrary to popular belief, Dickinson was actually in-tune with society; she knew of all the politics and social issues that existed in her time period, especially those dealing with women. Her poems are written by the influences in her life, and one could say that “A Solemn Thing—it was—I said” was written with a feminist perspective.
The poem focuses on Dickinson’s role in life as a woman, a subspecies creature with a lesser value than that of a man, at least through the eyes of a nineteenth century society.…