Emily Dickinson's Poem 613

Dickinson’s poem unfolds truth to society’s power over a woman’s identity. The poem has an angry tone read from the first line, “I’m ceded- I’ve stopped being Their’s-” (1). A defiant and condemning voice aimed at an ambiguous, authoritative figure who is embodied by the capitalized, plural pronoun “Their.” Dickinson’s refusal to exactly specify who “Their” is, demonstrates the power and relationship “Their” has over the speaker. Dickinson interchanges this pronoun with “They” (2) as the poem progresses on, and this larger entity is associated as the church, family, society, etc. because of Dickinson’s references to “church” (3) and “childhood” (6) within the opening stanza. Dickinson’s narrator is tired of being put aside or controlled by others. This angry tone begins to grow louder as Dickinson beings conveying this message and while the poem moves through stanzas uncovering the narrator’s identity.

In her poem #465, Emily Dickinson’s speaker allow the reader to experience an ironic reversal of conventional expectations of the moment of death in the mid-1800s, as the speaker finds nothing but and eerie darkness at the end of her life.

The last two lines of the poem are a timid reflection on what might happen “Had I the Art to stun myself/ With Bolts—of Melody!” (23-24). The idea that creation is a power that can get loose and injure even the creator illuminates why in this poem the artist positions herself firmly as a mere spectator. In these first two poems, we meet a Dickinson who is not entirely familiar to us—even though we are accustomed to her strong desire for privacy, these poems can be startling in the way they reveal the intensity of Dickinson’s fears. She is, after all, shrinking from what is dearest to her—nature, one of her favorite subjects, becomes a harsh judge, and poetry, her favored medium of communication, can suddenly render the reader “impotent” and the writer “stun[ned]” (19, 23). The extremity of her positions in shrinking from the small and beautiful things she loves creates the sense that this is just the beginning of a journey by leaving so much room for change.

Lyrical poetry is often used for the poet to express their emotions and tend to be written in a first-person perspective as a result. Because Dickinson never wrote in hopes of her poems being seen by the public, her poems are theorized to be a reflection of her thoughts. This is strengthened by poem 788 (709), “Publication – is the Auction”, where she deems it arrogant to publish when poems come from God. She says that “Thought belong to Him who gave it” (Dickson, “Publication – is the Auction”, 1) and it is not the right of the poets to sell that knowledge. Therefore, it’s clear that she is against publishing and this norm to conform to what society wants. As a result, it’s only reasonable to believe that her unpublished poems are a reflection of her thoughts. However, it is unknown as to what those thoughts were, due to the vagueness of her poems. She never outright explains what they mean and any answers that the poem may give, it just raises more questions. In 476 (712), “Because I could not stop for Death”, an explanation is never given as to what Death was a metaphor for and why she found it necessary to refer to what she passed by in the

Dickinson's poem 260 was really interesting. Specifically when she writes, “I'm Nobody! Who are you?/ Are you—Nobody – too?/ Then there's a pair of us!/ Dont tell! They'd advertise – you know!” (1-4) What seems a little unexpected is that this poem can be read with multiple meanings. It seems Dickinson could be talking about her and her lover sharing a melancholy and unhealthy bond, or she could be describing a side of her personality that she hides considering her individual thinking led to an ostracized life. Also, Dickinson could be suggesting what other like minded-thinkers endure.

The start of the poem illustrates how women gave up the pleasure and “playthings of her life” (Dickinson). This hints at how women are intimidated in social gatherings, and how they make themselves into the norms of society and make

Dickinson uses a resilient voice to express to the readers her anger towards humanity, due to their lack of clarity, individualism and sovereignty. You can sense her despondency towards the system and how people just accept something illogical, solely based on the fact that it is accepted by the majority .While reading further into the poem, Dickinson states people who are crazy are actually sane and those who claim to be sane are actually crazy. The poem continues in that direction, informing that the vast majority of people, only see the madness in the world, convicting all those who disagree against the mainstream. If you have the audacity to be a nonconformist and sustain your individuality, regardless of how you are viewed or judged. With clarity, you will see the world for what it really

Emily Dickinson and Philip Larkin both explore power and powerlessness through their poetry, as they both present a power imbalance in the relationship between two individuals. Dickinson explores the position of woman in the 19th century to present the imbalance of power between men and women, an example of this is ‘My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun’, as one interpretation of the poem is the idea of unlocked potential in women. The poem illustrates the relationship between a gun and its owner, and presents the idea of dependency which slowly develops into the gun’s desperate need for its owner. During the 1800’s there was a stigma towards women that were unmarried at a certain age. Dickinson’s view towards the assumed role of women is exemplified

“Miss Dickinson was a recluse; but her poetry is rich with a profound and varied experience. Where did she get it? The moral image that we have of Miss Dickinson stands out in every poem; it is that of a dominating spinster whose very sweetness

This placed Emily intellectually above much of her male counterparts. She also differed from them in style, using different meter and rhyme while adding unique style of punctuation. Dickinson's powerful emotions can be perceived in poem 441, where she speaks of her own writings within her poetry. "This is my letter to the World That never wrote to Me -- The simple News that Nature told -- With tender Majesty/Her Message is committed To Hands I cannot see-For love of Her-Sweet-countrymen-Judge

In her poem #465, Emily Dickinson’s speaker allow the reader to experience an ironic reversal of conventional expectations of the moment of death in the mid-1800s, as the speaker finds nothing but an eerie darkness at the end of her life.

In her poem #465, Emily Dickinson’s speaker allows the reader to experience an ironic reversal of conventional expectations of the moment of death in the mid-1800s, as the speaker finds nothing but an eerie darkness at the end of her life.

The society always queries about the role of women and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was remarkably negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfil the domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.

The ideas and values of society regarding independence and self-autonomy from a female perspective show from both and institutional and social standpoint, women are followers however their male counterparts are leaders. The lack of a woman’s self-autonomy can be seen in Dickinson’s Poem 83 where she suggests the conventional idea of inequality of leadership within domestic sphere of marriage. The central metaphor of the poem places the female of the relationship as the commodity and the male as merchant “But till the merchant buy… the subtle cargo lie” which reinforces the lack of independence juxtaposed to the males authoritative traditional role. However, these social norms are completely disparate in the character of Katherine featured

Emily Dickinson is one of the most interesting female poets of the nineteenth century. Every author has unique characteristics about him/her that make one poet different from another, but what cause Emily Dickinson to be so unique are not only the words she writes, but how she writes them. Her style of writing is in a category of its own. To understand how and why she writes the way she does, her background has to be brought into perspective. Every poet has inspiration, negative or positive, that contributes not only to the content of the writing itself, but the actual form of writing the author uses to express his/her personal talents. Emily Dickinson is no different. Her childhood and adult experiences and culture form