According to Emily Dickinson part 2

     One American nineteenth century poet, Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, lived her entire obscure life believing she was a 'nobody'.  Ironically, death gave her a second chance and the exposure she well deserved, in order to become, a “Somebody! / the livelong June- /To an admiring Bog!” (Dickinson, 1861, p.1669) of the twentieth century.  With this in mind, this paper will and provide some enlightenment in why Emily Elizabeth Dickinson deserves the recognition of being one of the  greatest American poets to this day.   This paper will also include an analyzed the poem called “A narrow Fellow in the Grass” ( Dickinson, 1865, p. 107-108) which will expose Dickinson's  writing style through her own poem's advice:  “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant - / Success is Circuit lies”.    (Dickinson, 1872, p. 108)              

     In order to find the truth about Dickinson's life, more than a hundred years later, scholars are still putting the pieces together about her life as a poet. Emily kept her private life private.  According to Richard Sewall, author of “The life of Emily”:  “She (Emily) told the truth, [. . . ] nearly a hundred years after her death, and after much painstaking research, scholars still grope with certainties.” (Sewell, 1998, p.3)

     Born December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Elisabeth (named after her mother) was the second of three children ( Austin-1829, Lavinia-1933) of Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson.  She spent her entire life, as well as her ancestors did since 1630, in the small town of Amherst. ( Sewall, 2003, p. 17)   The prominent and prosperous Dickinson family lived strictly under the Congregational / Calvinistic doctrine.  Emily's paternal grandfather, was one of the founders of Amherst College; her father Edward and older brother Austin were both lawyers with political ambitions.  Her father served in the General Court of Massachusetts, the State senate, and the United States House of Representatives.  Much of Emily's formative years were exposed to a household that was the centered with the culture, academia, and social activity. (illinois.edu. 2013)

       Regardless of the glamour and influence the Dickinson's family had on the community, Emily developed into a normal intelligent, vibrant,  independent, hopeful young woman.  For an example, Emily writes positively about herself in a letter to a friend on May 7, 1845: “I am growing handsome very fast indeed!  I expect I shall be the belle of Amherst when I reach my 17^th birthday.  I don't doubt that I shall have perfect crowds of admirers at that age.  Then how I shall delight to make them waiting my bidding, and with what delight shall I witness their suspense while I make my final decision.”  ( Todd, M.L., 1894, p.6)

       At sixteen, Emily already knew, poetry was her calling.  Another example of her poetic prose is the following letter she writes to her friend describing her visit to Mount Auburn, written September 8, 1846:  “Have you ever been to Mount Auburn?  If not, you can form but slight conception of this 'City of the Dead.'  It seems as if nature has formed this spot with distinct idea in view of its being a resting-place for her children, where, wearied and disappointed, they might stretch themselves beneath the spreading cypress, and close their eyes 'calmly as to a night's response, or flowers at set of sun.'” (Todd, M.L., 1894, p. 20)

       Dickinson only ventured outside her family circle from 1847 to 1848 in order to attend Mount Holyork Female Seminary.   Because of recurrent illness ( Bright's disease), she returned home and seldom left.  She became more and more reclusive, associating with only her family members, an occasional visitor, or through letters to her friends and acquaintances.  Her simplified life dealt with doing without, also meant doing within her creative mind.  Over 1775 poems were written and bounded in hand-sewed volumes and hidden in her room for her eyes only.  The volumes were later discovered after her death in 1886 by her younger sister Lavinia.   Many of her poems were initially edited into the traditional nineteenth century style of writing.  In 1955, a publication of Thomas Johnson's editions of Emily Dickinson's poems finally gave the reader's a complete and accurate text. (vcu.edu. 2013)

     As for modern poetry, Emily Dickinson made her mark in American literature.  Her artistic poetry was very radical for her era.  However, her frequent use of dashes, characteristic capitalization of nouns, slant rhymes, broken meter, bold imagery, and copious usage of metaphors have contributed to her reputation as one of the most innovative American poets of the nineteenth century literature. Many modern critics have come to appreciate the accomplishment of Dickinson's language and poetic structure.  Though Dickinson was inspired by poets, such as, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Shakespeare, she distinguish herself with her characteristics style of form and structured verse.

     The most common characteristic of Modernist writing was an unpredictable writing style which Emily Dickinson had.   Because modernism basically rebelled against traditional style of writing, experimentation and individualism became virtues. Women during the nineteen hundreds were mostly marginalized. Dickinson had those makings of modernist, because she had a voice; that voice of rebellion was expressed through her unconventional methods of writing.  Her themes were original and provided a variety of subject matters, such as love, nature, doubt and faith, suffering, death, and morality.  Dickinson essentially saw the world internally in her safe haven of her ingenious mind and expressed it through her elliptical style and contracting metaphors.  As Marbel Loonis Todd states in the “Letters of Emily Dickinson”:   “The whims and pretences of society, its forms and realities, seemed to her thin and unworthy.  Unconventionalities, while they amused, exasperated her also.” (Todd, M.L., 1894, p. X) (uncp.edu, 2013)

     In the poem, “A narrow Fellow in the Grass”(Dickinson, 1865, p.107-108),  Dickinson used her canny wit to call attention to every element in the poem.  If read aloud, the visualization and sound of the poem becomes more intriguing.  The dashes, the capitalization, the question mark, and usage of syntax in the condensed fleeting phrases are all used elements that has created the surprise image of realization that the narrow fellow in the grass is (in this reader's choice)  is just a snake.

     The interpretation of “A narrow Fellow in the Grass” (Dickinson, 1865, p. 107-108),  is the following:  The speaker ( notice the gender) is apparently a 'young' “boy”(line 1), who is “barefoot”(line 11) or perhaps it is a man who is looking back in time when he was a boy.  The “I”(lines 12, 18, 19)  in the poem is the speaker and not the poet herself (Dickinson's trade-mark).  The setting is open and grassy, conceivably a lower area in the landscape, “[like] a Boggy Acre” (line 9).  Another trade-mark in Dickinson's writing is her slant rhymes usage.  In this poem we hear a 'near-to', 'not an exact' rhyming pattern in the second and fourth lines in each stanza, such as “rides” and “is” (first stanza), “seen” and “on” (second stanza), “Corn” and “Noon” (third stanza), and “Sun” and “gone” (forth stanza) a ABCB pattern.  However, rhymes exist in the second and forth lines in the last two stanzas, such as, “me” and “Cordiality” (fifth stanza) and “alone” and “Bone” (sixth stanza) a ABC pattern.

         As mentioned earlier, Emily spent her entire life in a Calvinistic community.  She is very familiar with hymns sang in church; however, in this poem, like many others, has a meter rhythm of a hymn, but a rhyme sequence of a ballad.  A hymn rhymes in a ABAB fashion.  Ballads rhyme only in the even lines ABCB.  When reading the poem aloud, you can hear a pair syllables where the unstressed syllable followed by a stressed (like a heart beat- daDum) called iamb, such as nar/row'.  You should be able to hear eight syllables or four (tetrameter) daDums in the odd lines and six syllables or three (trimeter) daDums in the even lines; however, Dickinson likes to keep the reader on their toes, by slipping in seven syllables instead of eight, in the odd lines in stanzas three to six. ( Muller, G.H., Williams, J.A., 2003, p. 57 )(Booth, A, J.P. Hunter, Mays, K.J., 2006, p.506-507)

     Finally, the key to Dickinson's poems are her metaphors.   In the poem, “narrow Fellow” (metaphor)(line 1), “Whip Lash”(metaphor) (line13) and “Nature's People”(personification for the natural world) (line 17) all could be symbolism for the snake who “divides [the grass] as a comb (a simile) ( line 5) and  “closes at your (the boy's bare) Feet” (line 7).  Dickinson also likes to open her poems with interest and close with a complex surprise.  In the last stanza, a theme presents itself which might be  'fear'.   “But never met this Fellow / Attended or alone /  Without a tighter Breathing / And Zero at the Bone.” (line 21-24)  This can be visualized as if the young boy was a little shaken, holding his breath and feels disturb by Emily's “narrow Fellow” (line 1) the snake that he almost step on or perhaps the snake gave Dickinson a chill.  “Birds, songs, crickets, frost, and winter winds, even the toad and snake, mushroom and bats, have an indescribable charm for her, which she (Emily) in turn brings to us.” (Todd, M.L., 1894, p. XI)

       This paper has only brushed the surface of the truth in Emily's life. Ironically, death did give her a second chance. If it wasn't for her memorable poems, and letters, the rest of the world would never have known her.  Her writing has inspired not only the reader, but attributed of modernistic style of poetry.  One can understand from the works of Emily Dickinson, that she has likely influenced poets from her death to the present.

Reference

anonymous. (2013) Final Analyst: Emily Dickinson (1858-1955)

              Retrieved February 27, 2013 from Idaho.gov website 

http://libraries.idaho.gov/files/final%20-harvest-web.pdf

Baym, N., Levine R.S.  (2012) I'm a Nobody, are you a nobody? (1864)

      p. 1669  Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume B, 8^th Edition. Norton,

       United States of America

Baym, N., Levine R.S.  (2012) A Narrow Fellow in the Grass  (1866)

      p. 108  Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume C, 8^th Edition. Norton,

       United States of America

Sewell, R.B. PhD.  (1998) Preface

      p. 3  The Life of Emily Dickinson, Harvard University Press,

       United States of America

Todd, M.L. (1894) Letters of Emily Dickinson (p. x, xi, 6, 20)

Retrieved February 28, 2013 from Archive.org website

http://archive.org/stream/lettersofemilydi00dick#page/n5/mode/2up

anonymous. (2013) Literature

              Retrieved February 27, 2013 from uncp website 

http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/1914-/lit/index.htm

Muller, G.H., Williams, J.A.  (2003) Meter and Rhythm

      p. 57  Ways In – Approaches to Reading and Writing about Literature and Film, 2^nd Edition. 

      McGraw Hill, United States of America

Booth, A, J.P. Hunter, Mays, K.J.  (2006) Chapter 12 – Sounds of Poetry

      p. 506-507  Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable. 

      Norton, United States of America

According to Emily Dickinson

According to Emily Dickinson, “People say a word dies when it is written by a pen, but for me that word's life is just about to begin.” Her quote simply states that the power of a chosen word derives from the poet who wrote that word and gives the word its meaning. Dylan Thomas and Emily Dickinson are two poets who exemplify the meaning of their words by means of either an external form or an internal structure. Thomas's poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” excels in the external form that enhances each word usage, while Emily Dickinson's “The Wind begun to knead the Grass” plays with word usage in order to intensify the internal structure of the poem. It is their technique and style in delivering those words that gives each word life. (burningbird, 2004) (Norton, pg 533, 555, 2006)
Thomas displays his poem in an external form called 'villanelle'. In the 16th century, many French poets use the villanelle verse form which consists of nineteen lines, divided by five (tercet) three line stanzas with one final (quatrain) four line stanza and two refrain lines from the first stanza, that are strategically placed in the other five stanzas. The poem appears to be in iambic meter; whereby, it is written in a meter consisting of ten syllables or five iambic feet in each line. Each line has the the first syllable unstressed, the second stressed and so on. Thomas's poem end rhyme scheme is aba in the first five stanzas and abaa in the sixth stanza. (Norton, pp 507-508, 553 - 555, A9, 2006)
The format use in this poem is the following:
Refrain lines :
Repeat lines 1, lines 6, lines 12, and lines 18 – “Do not go gentle into that good night;”
Line 3, line 9, line 15, line 19 - “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Unstressed and stressed syllables used in the first two lines:
/ / / / /
Do not go gen tle in to the good night,

/ / / / /
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rhyme a b a a
Stanza 1 Night Day Light
Stanza 2 Right They Night
Stanza 3 Bright Bay Light
Stanza 4 Flight Way Night
Stanza 5 Sight Gay Light
Stanza 6 Height Pray Night light

Thomas's structured villanelle penetrates the deep emotion felt with in each stanza. The poem's message is like a flashing neon light: 'Don't give up, fight until the last breath'. The poem emphasizes these deep emotions comparison through figures of speech such as oxymoron, alliteration, simile and metaphor. Example of some 'figures of speech' are the following: oxymoron – good death (line 1), blinding sight (line 13); alliteration – go, good (line 1), deeds, danced (line 8); sang, sun (line 10); simile - “Bind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay.” (line 14); and metaphor – “good night” - means death. (Norton, pg 542, A1, A6, 481, 485, 505, 555, 2006)
In Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is about a man, who pleads with his father not to surrender to death's calling and “. . .go gentle into the good night” (line 1). Instead he encourages his father to fight, to “. . . burn and rave at close of day;” (line 2) and use “[r]age, rage against the dying of the light.” (line 3) All men, “wise”, “good”, “wild”, and “grave” rage against death; while grasping for strength and dignity until their final hour. “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray” (line 17); the pleading son wishes his father “ . . . not go gentle into the good night” (line 19), but to be courageous and dignified, not weak and submissive in his father's dying hour. The tone exhibits somberness and heart-feltness. (Norton, pg 555, 2006)
On the other hand, Emily Dickinson's “The Wind begun to knead the Grass” contains a rich internal structure. She provides the reader with a vivid image of an evolving storm by using personification and simile. The poem is constructed in such a whimsical manner that it plays “The Wind”, “the Grass”, and “The Hand” as people. Dickinson uses personification to describe the events taken place outside her “Father's House-” (line 19). Dickinson essentially configures her poem in a sequential pattern where she uses her witty symbolic personifications throughout the poem. Not only is this entertaining for the reader, but helps the reader visualize the brewing storm where “[t]he wind . . .knead[s] the [g]rass -” like “[w]omen” knead[s] the “[d]ough.” (line 1-2) Part of Emily Dickinson's wit is her way in high-lighting important words that begin with a capital letter. These 'captured' nouns give meaning to the storm's progression. For an example: “The Leaves unhooked themselves from Trees-” (line 5); “The Thunders gossiped low-” (line 10); and “The Birds put the Bars to Nest-” (line 13). Each line, except line six, has a random word or words that began with a capital letter. The flow of the poem is not only seamless but enjoyable. Another element to the poet's creativity, is the use of the dash (caesura). At the end of each line she purposely used a dash instead of a punctuation. It has a great impact on how one reads or vocalizes the poem. (Norton, pg 481, 483, 533-534, 2006)
There are three similes used in Dickinson's poem, which are as follows:
“As Women do a Dough-” (line 2), where she compares it “. . . to knead of Grass-” (line 1); “The Dust did scoop itself like Hands-” (line 7 ),comparing it to a person scooping a handful of dirt and throwing it into the air; and “And then, as if the Hands/That held the Dams-” (line 16-17) comparing it to a rain cloud. Dickinson did not leave the reader without a surprise, she summoned the best in the last two lines: “But overlooked my Father's House-/ Just Quartering a Tree -” ( line 19 -20 ) The observer,
who is also the speaker, was viewing the storm and the lightning hitting the tree, safe inside her father's house. (Norton, pg 481, 533-534, 2006)
The external form that Dylan Thomas uses and Emily Dickinson's internal structure gives their poems' words its power, feelings, sound, and structure. Their whole poem establishes a fluid composition that develops rhythm and theme; whereby, the reader has no problem receiving the poem's intrinsic message. Emily Dickinson's quote, “People say a word dies when it is written by a pen, but for me that word's life is just about to begin” may also be reiterated that words become a live vehicle of expression that taps the recipient 's emotion. (burningbird, 2004)

Socialist Roses are sick

The Debate Between the Roses “A Red,Red Rose” and “The Sick Rose”

Even with the passage of time, poetry still remains viable and capable in provoking those hidden images and feelings in the reader. The poems “A Red,Red Rose” by Robert Burns and William Blake's “The Sick Rose” have done just that. Both of these late 18th century poems elicited feelings and mindful images through the usage of figurative language. Each poet's figurative words provides impact that resonates throughout their poem, while at the same time composing a totally different meaning and feeling.

Robert Burns's poem “A Red, Red Rose” describes a Scottish man's devotion to a his “bonnie lass” (line 5, all pages references are to the class text, Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable Ed.) before he departs on a long trip. Burns skillfully uses the 'simile' element to produce his musical elegance with “O, my luve's like a red, red rose” (line 1). The simile “like a red, red rose” (line 1) and “As fair art thou”( line 5) makes a definitive picture of the speaker's lady. Another example of an explicit simile is the Scottish man's love for his lady “is like the melodie” (line 3). This poem is written in four stanzas. Each stanza has four lines with a rhyming characteristic throughout the poem. In each four line stanza, the last word in the second line rhymes with the last word in the fourth line. For an example: the word “June” (line 2) rhymes with the word “tune”(line 4); the word “I” (line 6) rhymes with “dry” (line 8) and so on throughout the poem. The poem also repeats “And I will luve thee still, my dear” (line 7 & 11) . This poem produces great rhythm and provides an up-lifting feeling. The last stanza brings closure with the image of the Scottish man embracing his “fair” (line 5 ) lady and kissing her goodbye, with the realization that “. . . [he] will come again, . . ” ( line 15), even if he has to trek thousand miles (line 16). (Norton Literature, pg 465, 481- 485, 465-471, 475-477, 501, 502, 2006)

In contrast to Burns's poem, Blake characterizes his poem, “The Sick Rose” as a “O rose, thou art sick” (line 1). Blake's poem takes on a darker description of the 'rose' by weaving in complex mystical metaphors, such as “The invisible worm / That flies in the night” (line 2-3) . Although words, such as '“worm” (line 2), “bed” (line 5 ) and “crimson joy” (line 6 ) “ have sexual connotations” (pg. 495), could it also be questioned why Blake's heavy use of metaphors possibly begs for another interpretation? Maybe Blake intentionally wanted to push the reader to take a closer look in what he wanted to convey. Perhaps the poem wants to indicate a more private symbol of deceit, destruction or betrayal in one's relationship or possible social issues that cause the symbolic 'rose' to become sick. As in “A Red, Red, Rose”, this poem also brings to life its own sound to the reader. “In the howling storm” (line 4) brings forth a dramatic sound to the reader's imagination, such as the sound of howling wolves, which may represent loneliness or even the sound of anger. The last stanza grips the concept of deceit and betrayal of the “. . . dark secret love / Does thy life destroy” ( line 7-8 ); thereby finalizes the 'rose' wellbeing to a withering state of sadness. (Norton Literature, pg 465, 467, 468, 469, 475, 476, 477, 481-485, 490-496, 501, 502, 2006)

The comparison between the poems “A Red, Red Rose” and “The Sick Rose” is like comparing the 'light of day' to the 'dark of night'. Both poems used strong figurative language in order to give impact to their meaning. The 'rose' becomes a symbolic entity that exposes 'beauty', 'love', 'happiness', 'deceit' or 'sadness'. The reader can conclude that the 'rose' is truly significant. It has made its mark on mankind that has engender centuries of artistic expressions just like in the poem “A Red, Red Rose”

“ . . . I will come again, my luve” (line 15).


Reference



Booth, A. & Hunter P.J. & Mays K.J. (Ed.). (2006). Burns, Robert "A Red, Red Rose" The Norton

Introduction to Literature: Portable Ed. (pg 484) Indianapolis, IA: North, Inc.



Booth, A. & Hunter P.J. & Mays K.J. (Ed.). (2006). Blake, William "A Sick Rose"

The Norton Introduction to Literature: Portable Ed. (pg 495) Indianapolis, IA:

North, Inc.



Booth, A. & Hunter P.J. & Mays K.J. (Ed.). (2006). Chapter 11

The Norton Introduction to Literature: Portable Ed. (pg 465-496) Indianapolis, IA:

North, Inc.

Booth, A. & Hunter P.J. & Mays K.J. (Ed.). (2006). Chapter 12

The Norton Introduction to Literature: Portable Ed. (pg 501-502) Indianapolis, IA:

North, Inc.

Every word counts in poems

In poems, I agree that every word counts, and I mean 'every' word. Every word is condensed with meaning. Sometimes I need to read a poem three or four times, subsequently, narrowing it down to the words that gives the poem the most impact and meaning. I like Shakespeare. I believe he is a master in disguise when it comes to his work. As stated before, there are times like now that I need to read and reread what he has written, in order to benefit from the poem's message. Afterwards, the chances are good that I need to reread it again. Shakespeare's poem "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" is a poem about an aging / dying man seeing his youth passing by. The title is a give-a-way. He uses a lot of metaphors in his poem. Here are some examples of words I picked out of the poem. "yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang" (line 2) describes a season such as late autumn (this might be obvious); and "Bare ruined choirs" (line 4) these are churches like Abbeys in Europe that either have been bombed out or are already in ruins; therefore, they have no roofs; and lastly "This" (line 13) possibly an identification expression to exemplify the poet's descending youth, but the word "This" could be debatable, but that's the meaning I'm giving it.

Post Card from Kashmir

The poem that I would like to address is the Agha Shahid Ali's "Post Card from Kashmir". I felt the tone in the poem, developed an extreme sadness to it. The speaker appeared to be an Indian from Kashmir who seems to have exiled from the Kashmir region. He talks about holding a post card "I always loved neatness. Now I hold the half-inch Himalayas in my hand" (pg 428) where the reader starts to develops the feeling that there is distance from his homeland. I liked the description. "When I returned, the colors won't be so brilliant, the Jhelum's waters so clean, so ultramarine. My love so overexposed." (pg 428) In this verse, I believe he is remembering what it is like back in his country and the beautiful landscape and people are now in turmoil. I could feel the passion coming from the speaker; therefore, I googled Kashmir and used the phrase turmoil in Kashmir. The site verified what I initially felt the speaker was portraying, turmoil, lonesomeness and sadness.