EMILY DICKINSON

She has quite Good education. Her father provide her with books although at the same time
ask her not to read them. She became a very learn person. She didn’t get married so she
avoided all these duties of the woman in the 19 th century. She has some friends that
correspond her but two in particular help her to develop her poetical career. Her sexual life is
also a mysterious. In life she published just around 10 poems but she wrote beyond 1700. The
vision of her poetry was kind of a problem for the editors. She didn’t have any prose, the only
way to know her prose if through her letters. They provided a very good context to analyse her
poetry.

“If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is
poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off..”

During her lifetime, Emily Dickinson wrote poems that were bundled together as a cluster of
pages called a fascicle. These bundles of pages were not found until after her death by her
sister Lavinia who had been willed all of Emily Dickinson's earthly possessions. In total, there
were 40 different fascicles, or booklets, of more than 800 poems. These poems were then
published in print and edited up to the editors' discretion. These published versions were often
changed from Dickinson's originals.

Edition of Dickinson’s poetry

 Difficulties in the edition of her manuscripts

 Her handwriting is difficult to read (some grammatical mistakes in the poems must be
blamed on the editors).
 She used to write in the sides of her books or pieces of newspapers.
 She never dated her poems.
 She didn’t put titles to her poems.
 She didn’t give any instruction
 She had a particular of writing, of using capital letters, punctuation, etc. This was a
problem since the editor had to make choices, decisions.

Dickinson’s poetic style

 Periodization
 Pre 1861
 1861 – 1865: these letters are probably the most productive since it was her most
productive period.
 Post 1866: there is a change she became sadder. Just one third of her poetry.

The first editor of her work were quite baffle about the way he wrote so they decided to
modify her style so it could adjust to the 19 th century standards. They try to be as faithful as
they could.

 Use of a “mask” or “persona”: the speaker can present herself as something in nature or
another thing as: I am a gun.
 Poems without titles
 Conciseness
 Punctuation: unconventional use of dashes. They are stronger than a comma. It makes you
stop and read the poem very slowly.

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 Unusual capitalization: maybe influenced by the Germans.
 Poetic irregularity and frequent disruption of the lines
 Slant rhymes: the sound of two words are very close but they are not exactly the same.
 Changes in language: inversions, omissions of auxiliary verbs, the use of adjectives, verbs
and adverbs as nouns. Some sentences ended in verb. She play with grammar, she plays
with syntax.
 Colloquial language.
 Metric: short verses; iambic and trochaic feet; ballad stanza.

MAIN THEMES

Most common words in her poems are “day” (232), “sun (170), “life” (156), “heaven” (143),
“death” (141)

 The domestic realm: home. Where she felt safe and happy.
 Religion and the Bible
 Friendship and love
 Nature
 Death and immortality

The domestic realm

Emily Dickinson fought both the Victorian ideal of the home and the industrialization of the
city. She is pretty romantic in this opposition between industrialization, progress, home. She is
much more conservative. However, she doesn’t fit the ideal of Victorian woman, she fought
the ideal of the angel of the house. She wrote things at the kitchen.

 She adhered to the requirements of an unmarried woman, but she didn’t renounce her
education and the craft of writing.
 She challenged the idea of Coventry Patmore’s “Angel in the house”.

“She sweeps with many-colored Brooms”

She sweeps with many-colored Brooms —

And leaves the Shreds behind —

Oh Housewife in the Evening West —

Come back, and dust the Pond!

You dropped a Purple Ravelling in —

You dropped an Amber thread —

And how you've littered all the East

With duds of Emerald!

And still, she plies her spotted Brooms,

And still the Aprons fly,

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Till Brooms fade softly into stars —

And then I come away —

 Represents the type of woman she was against.

 Represents the sunset, the moment when the sun is moving.
 It’s compared to a house wife. The careless housewife.
 Broom = witch
 The speaker has to remind her that she must be careful with the dust.
 Semantic field of the house.
 She presents it in a beautiful way with the anaphora.
 She is comparing the colours of the sunset with the dust in the house  she has to sweep.
 It is a very glad image. The speaker moves with this sunset.
 Very common details. Indult herself with these images.

Religion

“The Bible is an antique Volume”

The Bible is an antique Volume —

Written by faded men

At the suggestion of Holy Spectres —

Subjects — Bethlehem —

Eden — the ancient Homestead —

Satan — the Brigadier —

Judas — the Great Defaulter —

David — the Troubador —

Sin — a distinguished Precipice

Others must resist —

Boys that "believe" are very lonesome —

Other Boys are "lost" —

Had but the Tale a warbling Teller —

All the Boys would come —

Orpheus' Sermon captivated —

It did not condemn

 Unorthodox use of biblical language + metaphors.

 She was pretty sceptical.
 She finds divinity in nature, love and friendship.
 She inverts the hierarchy of religion and divinity. It’s not god who is divine but her friends.
 Colloquial way of the things in the bible.
 Disrespectful to religion

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 She is talking about insipid men
 Holy spectors instead of holy spirit.
 Belen  old home. Judas the biggest rebel. *She mentions the characters of the Bible and
criticizes them.
 If you believe in God, you are lost.
 It could be more appealing or charming, instead it is boring.
 More people would read the bible and believe.

Love + friendship

 Love is very important for her. She was very demanding.

 She refers to her friends as angels/saints.
 Lavinia  her sister in law.
 Dickinson felt abandoned and it appears in her poems and letters.
 Insecure in her affects which makes an inner conflict between passion and independence.

Nature

 She celebrates the beauty of nature.

 She looks romantic in some way, but we are not going to find sublime landscapes. She is
focused in the details, the tiny pleasures.
 Nature is divine, so she revered and worshiped it.
 Ecstasy is achieved in particular moments of communion with the earth.
 Nature is majestic too.
 Nature connected with the Realm of the house.
 Nature to talk about the world, about the hope.
 However, nature is not always beautiful.

Different poems of nature:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers.

"Hope" is the thing with feathers —

That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —
And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm —
I've heard it in the chillest land —
And on the strangest Sea —
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of Me.
 The whole poem is a extend comparison. Birth  Hope
 She gives us a lot of details of what hope is for human beings.

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  It makes the birth small, without defend.
 Hope is something intimate, is restless (incansable). It is fearless and something strong.
 “In the Gale”  archaism “en el vendabal”.
 Her singing, even in the middle of the storm, keeps us warm. It doesn’t need anything to
survive, it just survives.
 Focus on the way he is using capital letters, hyphons, etc.
 The dashes are asking the reader to stop there (a conscious pose).

The Murmur of a Bee.

The Murmur of a Bee

A Witchcraft — yieldeth me —
If any ask me why —
'Twere easier to die —
Than tell —
The Red upon the Hill
Taketh away my will —
If anybody sneer —
Take care — for God is here —
That's all.
The Breaking of the Day
Addeth to my Degree —
If any ask me how —
Artist — who drew me so —
Must tell!
 She presents images.
 Yieldeth me  archaism.
 Incapacity to explain many things, nature, the divinity in the world, death, etc.
 She felt very disturbed not knowing what was going to happen  “Nature is
inexplicable”
 “the red upon the hill”  sunset. A metaphor and a metonymy (la parte por el todo:
color/sol)
 God  an artist  a metaphor.

“Nature” is what we see.

"Nature" is what we see —

The Hill — the Afternoon —
Squirrel — Eclipse — the Bumble bee —
Nay — Nature is Heaven —
Nature is what we hear —
The Bobolink — the Sea —

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Thunder — the Cricket —
Nay — Nature is Harmony —
Nature is what we know —
Yet have no art to say —
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.
 She cannot explain what nature is so she mentioned the different elements of nature
between sashes to project the image in our minds
 Nature as a sensitive experience: “nature is what we see” / “nature is what we hear”
 Also as a cognitive experience: “nature is what we know”.
 Nature is simple but paradoxical  it is simple but inexplicable.

The sun went down – no Man looked on.

The Sun went down — no Man looked on —

The Earth and I, alone,
Were present at the Majesty —He triumphed, and went on —
The Sun went up — no Man looked on —
The Earth and I and One
A nameless Bird — a Stranger
Were Witness for the Crown —
 It is a moment in which she is alone in the sunset.
 Sun as a king, as a nameless bird.
 Sunset, night and morning.

The sky is low – the Clouds are mean

The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean.

A Travelling Flake of Snow
Across a Barn or through a Rut
Debates if it will go —
A Narrow Wind complains all Day
How some one treated him
Nature, like Us is sometimes caught
Without her Diadem
 Dark day, there is snow.
 Personification of nature
 Farm
 Sound of the wind (angry and complaining)
 Diadem  crown  majesty, royal aspect in nature.

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  Focus on the capital letters.

Death and mortality

Dickinson’s attitude about death were controversial sometimes.

 She believed in the possibility of an afterlife. This was a relief.

 Depression and despair towards the uncertainty.
 Resignation to the unavoidable end.
 Themes in her poetry, which are related to death: immortality, resurrection, eternity…

Different important poems with this topic: “Ample make this bed”; “To die – takes just a little
while –”; “Because I could not stop for Death”

Definitions of death:

 “Ample make this bed”  the only hint in the poem that makes us think that she is talking
about bed are the words ‘awe’, ‘judgment’ and ‘ground’.
 “To die – takes just a little while –”  she lists the elements that are part of death. She
makes metaphor that identifies death.

Dying was an issue in the 19 th century, there are even some essays written about the art of
dying. You were supposed to behave even before your death. These two poems are about her
definition of death.

“But I could not stop for death”

Because I could not stop for Death—

He kindly stopped for me—

The Carriage held but just Ourselves—

And Immortality.

We slowly drove—He knew no haste,

And I had put awayMy labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility—

We passed the School, where Children

strove

At recess—in the ring—

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—

We passed the Setting Sun—

Or rather—He passed Us—

The Dews drew quivering and chill—

For only Gossamer, my Gown—

My Tippet—only Tulle—

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We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground—

The Roof was scarcely visible—

The Cornice—in the Ground—

Since then—'tis centuries— and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses' Heads

Were toward Eternity—

 The speaker is already dead. This a common position she takes in her poems.
 She cannot stop death as well as she can’t stop her life.
 She describes the graze and the sun, they both are quite active. This is a first time, we
have the hint of her being already dead. Things keep on moving, keep on going while she
is passive, she doesn’t move.
 She realized about her current state. She also realizes about her dress (solo una gasa son
una chaqueta muy fina encima), the dew (rocío).
 The grave as her house.
 She also realizes that the carriage is not a carriage is her hearse.
 She is going to eternity. She doesn’t describe what happens after, she just describes the
journey till her grave. It seems an eternal trip till the end.

“I heard a Fly buzz –when I died –”

I heard a Fly buzz — when I died —

The Stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air —

Between the Heaves of Storm —

The Eyes around — had wrung them dry —

And Breaths were gathering firm

For that last Onset — when the King

Be witnessed — in the Room —

I willed my Keepsakes — Signed away

What portion of me be

Assignable — and then it was

There interposed a Fly —

With Blue — uncertain stumbling Buzz —

Between the light — and me —And then the Windows failed — and then

I could not see to see

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 This poem is divided into 4 stanzas. The first one is focused on the Fly, it presents the
setting, the scene and, then, the fly. The second focuses on the people who are around
her. The 3rd stanza focuses on the speaker. The last focuses on the moment of death.
 We have again a dead speaker, a ghost.
 There is a repetition of the word stillness, it emphasizes the silence of the moment and
the contrast that the fly makes with this moments. (It is a very typical scene in the
cinema)
 In the second stanza, the people gather around her are refer with a metonymy (the
eyes). We are not said that they cried a lot, we just see the effect: they are exhausted
because they’ve cried a lot.
 King  could be death, could be God. She is waiting for someone or something but we
don’t know what it is. Waiting for death to happen.
 Then, he focuses on herself. The sound and the colour fusion in her perception of the fly.
Colour blue is very suggestive and identify with the sadness, she makes a synaesthesia
(zumbido azul  it could mean the colour of the fly or the sadness). She is in a room but
she cannot see the windows (the windows are her eyes)  it seems as someone has
turned the light on. This reflects her fear of what is coming next, she only dares to
imagine.
 Fly  this fly stands for a sign of the corruption of the body, its decadence. It is
grotesque partly because of this. It also stands for life, it stablishes the contrast with
death; no one moves except the fly who can move.
 We feel the isolation of death in this poem

“I felt a funeral in my Brain”

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading — treading — till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through —

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum —

Kept beating — beating — till I thought

My Mind was going numb —

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space — began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but an Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race

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Wrecked, solitary, here —

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down —

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing — then

 This is a metaphorical death.

 The sound of the bells invaded the space. Hyperbole.
 She now perceives her whole existence by the sense of hearing.
 Dramatization of metalanguage.
 A funeral that takes places in her head. She is metaphorically speaking the corpse.

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