1. What does it feel like to read a Dickinson poem? What is your sense of her musicality, sound, rhythm, and use of space? From what existing literary traditions and/or established conventions does she seem to draw inspiration? What does she do with/to these traditions and forms? Give examples. As someone who isn’t quite fond of poetry, I must admit that reading a poem by Emily Dickinson is both refreshing and terribly confusing. Dickinson’s poems do not have one singular interpretation and their meanings tend to be vague, which can frustrate readers who are used to written word with rather blunt meanings in comparison. Despite this, Dickinson has great talent in making her poems lyrical, writing them in such a way that results in each poem
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Who are you?” Dickinson’s use of line breaks and punctuation alternately slowed down and sped up my reading pace. Reading the first line at a rather rapid pace, I felt the need to slow down to read the second, separating the words into three chunks. Reading it this way forced the question, “Are you—Nobody—Too?” to sound inquisitive and have a tone of disbelief, leaving the line open-ended in order to ponder the shocking existence of another “Nobody”. Immediately following this, the use of exclamation points encourages the reader to speed up their pace, pushing the remaining two lines of the stanza together due to the tone of excitement. I read the first line of the second stanza in a similar fashion to the second line of the first stanza, but faster due to the choice of punctuation. Breaking the words into three separate chunks, the line remains open-ended, letting the reader bask in just how dreary it is to be “Somebody” and not “Nobody”. Again, the rest of the stanza is sped up, putting the last three verses together because of the punctuation’s influence to read in an excited …show more content…
With death being the prominent recurring theme, readers can assume that it was a subject that intrigued Dickinson. Based on her various poems pertaining to the subject, such as “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died”, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”, and “I like a look of Agony”, it’s safe to assume that Dickinson wasn’t afraid of death unlike a vast majority of people. This assumption is based off of Dickinson’s nonchalant and rather accepting attitude towards the subject of death. Overall, she spreads a peaceful message about the subject through her poems, using eerily calming lines such as “And then the Windows failed—and then I could not see to see—”. Consequently, this composed, indifferent attitude and tone possibly reveals Dickinson’s goal to learn to accept death, whether it be the passing of her loved ones or just the subject in general, for herself. Additionally, a handful of Dickinson’s poems focuses on the narrator’s self-identity, such as “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” and “I’m “wife”—I’ve finished that”. Most often, there is a tone of uncertainty in the verses, hinting that there is an identity imposed on the narrator that they do not necessarily agree with. This may imply that Dickinson personally felt that the only person who can truly determine one’s identity is oneself, that no one else can force an identity onto another person. This perhaps shows that her intention, despite
Who are you?” Dickinson’s use of line breaks and punctuation alternately slowed down and sped up my reading pace. Reading the first line at a rather rapid pace, I felt the need to slow down to read the second, separating the words into three chunks. Reading it this way forced the question, “Are you—Nobody—Too?” to sound inquisitive and have a tone of disbelief, leaving the line open-ended in order to ponder the shocking existence of another “Nobody”. Immediately following this, the use of exclamation points encourages the reader to speed up their pace, pushing the remaining two lines of the stanza together due to the tone of excitement. I read the first line of the second stanza in a similar fashion to the second line of the first stanza, but faster due to the choice of punctuation. Breaking the words into three separate chunks, the line remains open-ended, letting the reader bask in just how dreary it is to be “Somebody” and not “Nobody”. Again, the rest of the stanza is sped up, putting the last three verses together because of the punctuation’s influence to read in an excited …show more content…
With death being the prominent recurring theme, readers can assume that it was a subject that intrigued Dickinson. Based on her various poems pertaining to the subject, such as “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died”, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”, and “I like a look of Agony”, it’s safe to assume that Dickinson wasn’t afraid of death unlike a vast majority of people. This assumption is based off of Dickinson’s nonchalant and rather accepting attitude towards the subject of death. Overall, she spreads a peaceful message about the subject through her poems, using eerily calming lines such as “And then the Windows failed—and then I could not see to see—”. Consequently, this composed, indifferent attitude and tone possibly reveals Dickinson’s goal to learn to accept death, whether it be the passing of her loved ones or just the subject in general, for herself. Additionally, a handful of Dickinson’s poems focuses on the narrator’s self-identity, such as “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” and “I’m “wife”—I’ve finished that”. Most often, there is a tone of uncertainty in the verses, hinting that there is an identity imposed on the narrator that they do not necessarily agree with. This may imply that Dickinson personally felt that the only person who can truly determine one’s identity is oneself, that no one else can force an identity onto another person. This perhaps shows that her intention, despite