Summary OfThey Shut Me Up In Prose

Dickinson’s This is my Letter to the World raises tension between exclusion and the human conditions’ longing for belonging. Dickinson’s “letter to the world” is an extended metaphor of her deliberate attempt to establish an affinity with her society through art- her literature just like Grossman’s essay. Her vulnerability and isolation, is evident in her personal tone with “my letter” being exposed to the wider “world”. This disclosure juxtaposed with the next line “that never wrote to me” further emphasizes her reality filled with isolation. The juxtaposition encapsulates her position as an outsider, interplaying the themes of inclusion and exclusion, seen through her desire for her art to be reciprocated and appreciated by the open distant world. Furthermore, Dickinson covets for a sense of connection through the reoccurring motif of the natural world, personifying “her” as a feminine persona with a nurturing capacity emphasizes through the accumulation of endorsing imagery “tender majesty… hands I cannot see…for love of her”. Despite her lack of relationship with her environment, she elevates nature to be majestic further denigrating her own self status as her writing will still be “judged” no matter how “tenderly”. Thus Dickinson seeks a sense of belonging through nature deriving from the human condition, yet in this driving process towards inclusion is met by exclusion from her sense of identity

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.

The next seemingly arbitrary decision is Dickinson's capitalization. The capitalization at the beginning of the sentence must be capitalized; therefore, we'll focus on the capitalizations that lie within each sentence. In this poem, each of these words is a noun. Past this simple reading, what may we deduce from these capitalizations? Each stanza presents a different set of capitalized objects

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.

Stanza one explains how Dickinson used the words to express about how it’s going to be a wild night. (maybe referring to partying) To have this night to shine to make it special almost like a treat. Saying “thee” Dickison might have been referring to people but she could have referred it to the wild night. She also used the word luxury in the context that means it probably doesn’t happen very often so it will most likely make it really special. Stanza two explains by the capitalization of her words. I really enjoyed really this stanza. It really stands out to me. The world “futile” it means pointless. “Heart” trying to highlight these words because this night should be wild and fun. It should be a free night, no specific plans just be a open

what the author wants to imply past the surface level of the work. In Emily Dickinson’s poem

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

In Dickinson's poem “This is My Letter to the World,” she is expressing her reclusiveness towards the world. What Emily means by this is that she wrote a letter to the world, but the world does not know who she is since she never leaves her home. She also writes about what nature has taught her in hopes to teach other people lessons. In the closing of the poem she asks the readers to not judge her harshly on what she has written. The overall theme of this poem is that if people were to judge, they should judge by the truth. She does not want to be judged harshly for separating herself from the world, she just wants to belong. She uses many devices through all of her poems to help convey the overall theme. In the poem “This is My Letter to the World,” Dickson uses the personification of nature, rhyme scheme, and metaphor to show her overall theme.

Emily Dickinson is was a talented and unique poet; some might even call her strange or mad. This poem, in a way, represents her life that was far from what was considered normal. In the 1800s, a certain type of behavior was expected from people, especially from women. Women cooked, cleaned, and nurtured their families, while under the control of men. It was not looked upon well when women strayed from this status quo. Emily Dickinson did, and this poem demonstrates this rebellion.

There is a lot more to poetry than just the words themselves. “What William Shakespeare called, “the mind’s eye” also plays a role” (Borus34). What that means is that your experiences and thoughts will add to your understanding. Dickinson had an active mind and a style so unique and unusual with her writing. Something that was very unusual about her writing was that she never put a title to her poems. Just like many poets, she used a wide assortment of literary devices such as, metaphor, simile, alliteration, and symbolism. “Unlike many writers of her time, Dickinson did not use conventional rhyme, capitalization, or punctuation” (Borus36). For example, she would put dashes not just at the end of a line, but also

Emily Dickinson was one of the most well-known poets, being considered as one of the most leading nineteenth-century poets. She commanded a remarkable cleverness of style and honor of idea. Only ten of Dickinson’s nearly one thousand, eight hundred poems are known to have been published in her entire lifetime. Devoted to private quests, she sent hundreds of poems to friends and correspondents while apparently keeping the greater number to herself. She habitually worked in verse forms suggestive of hymns and ballads, with lines of three or four stresses. She freely ignored the usual rules of versification and even grammar, and in the intellectual content of her work she came off exceptionally bold and original. Her verse is distinguished by

Dickinson starts her poem with the opening line, “Wild nights- Wild nights!” I believe she is going insane and is imagining things that never happened or only have taken place in her dreams. First off, based on the history and culture of Dickinson’s time, it was near impossible for her to have a man at her house and to sleep with him unless she was married and living together with him. Also, based on her biography, we know that she was not married. I can conclude that she either heard of people telling her about their sexual experiences, or she had seen couples around which inspired her to create a poem of this sort. The fact that she spent her life in her own room leads me to believe that she had not experienced the sexual pleasures of life, or else she would have written more, or been married, or even have escaped with her lover. There are some verses that give away the clues that all of these events were her imaginations

Before all else, it is crucial to examine the format of each Dickinson poem; this would provide a reader with a baseline of what they should expect while reading and allows them to notice any outliers. Poems such as “I know that He exists” and “Apparently With No Surprise” offer more of a free-flowing structure, similar to a train of thought, in comparison to a more intransigent “‘Faith’ is Fine Invention” or “I Never Saw a Moor”. In the initial two poems, Dickinson is describing her thoughts and a scene in nature, not taking any breaths while doing so. In the latter poems, she shows a more harsh side, where lines are quick, and straight to the point. A particular line that shows urgency is found within “‘Faith is Fine invention”, where Dickinson writes, “But Microscopes are prudent, In an Emergency!”. Of

Dickinson is talking about giving away her labor, all of her hard work and efforts she has put into life. She found her accomplishments and her daily life to be meaningless. Adding to the overall melancholy tone of the poem, Dickinson claims that she is even giving away her leisure; she does not find happiness in anything anymore, not even in relaxation or hobbies. Some might argue that by stating that she is giving away her labors and leisures, Dickinson is speaking in an animated way; after all, she is dying, and that is what she wants. Be that as it may, Dickinson still has a dark, dejected tone in regards to

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