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Emily Dickinson

• Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1830 to a

prosperous family

• Received a classical education at Amherst

Academy and Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary

• Descended from New England Puritans

• Finds her closest friends in her brother Austin,

her sister Lavinia, and her sister-in-law, Sue

• Spends most of her time at home in Amherst

Dickinson’s Early Life

• Wrote most of her approximately 1,800

poems between 1858 and 1866

• Sought out mentors and colleagues for advice

but trusted her own aesthetic sensibility

• Published fewer than a dozen poems during

her lifetime

• Challenged formal poetic conventions such as

meter and rhyme

Dickinson the Poet

Dickinson and Form

39 [49]

I never lost as much but twice–

And that was in the sod.

Twice have I stood a beggar

Before the door of God!

Angels! – twice descending

Reimbursed my store—

Burglar! Banker – Father!

I am poor once more.

• She uses common meter–

a closed quatrain (4 lines)

that rhymes ABAB, ABCB,

etc.

• The length of the lines

may vary but the basic

structure stays the same

• This is the same form

used in many hymns,

ballads, and even nursery

rhymes.

• Content—abstract,

metaphysical

• Along with Whitman, she is considered one of

the most innovative and influential American

poets.

• How does she break with traditional poetic

form? Common meter is structured, so what

does she do?

• Enjambment (idea in a line flows to the next

line to be completed)

• Vary line lengths

• Abstract images

• Dashes

Dickinson’s Innovations

Innovations

My life closed twice before its close;

It yet remains to see

If Immortality unveil

A third event to me,

So huge, so hopeless to conceive,

As these that twice befell.

Parting is all we know of heaven,

And all we need of hell.

• How does common meter

work here?

• Rhyme scheme?

• Line lengths?

• Punctuation?

• How do you read the last

line?

Homily – short sermon on a biblical topic or a pithy saying

• “Success is counted sweetest” (112 [67])

• “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church -” (236 [324])

• “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant -” (1263 [1129])

Definitions and Riddles

• “The Bible is an antique volume–” (1577 [1545])

• “A narrow Fellow in the Grass” (1096 [986])

Dickinson Opening Lines

Abstract/ Metaphysical Poetry

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

For—put them side by side—

The one the other will contain

With ease—and You—beside—

The Brain is deeper than the sea—

For—hold them—Blue to Blue—

The one the other will absorb—

As Sponges—Buckets—do—

The Brain is just the weight of God—

For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—

And they will differ—if they do—

As Syllable from Sound—

Metaphysical poetry: highly

abstract and complex;

innovative, original and often

incongruous imagery; often

includes paradoxes’ may be

elliptical (stripped down to

just a few essential words or

images)

Dickinson and Death

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 -

Dickinson and 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 away

My 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 -

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 -

Dickinson and Death

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,

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 -

Dickinson and the Natural World

There’s a certain Slant of light,

Winter Afternoons -

That oppresses, like the Heft

Of Cathedral Tunes -

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us -

We can find no scar,

But internal difference -

Where the Meanings, are -

None may teach it - Any -

‘Tis the Seal Despair -

An imperial affliction

Sent us of the Air -

When it comes, the Landscape

listens -

Shadows - hold their breath -

When it goes, ‘tis like the Distance

On the look of Death -

Dickinson and Gender

I’m “wife” - I’ve finished that -

That other state -

I’m Czar - I’m “Woman” now

It’s safer so -

How odd the Girl’s life looks

Behind this soft Eclipse -

I think that Earth feels so

To folks in Heaven - now -

This being comfort - then

That other kind - was pain -

But Why compare?

I’m “Wife”! Stop there!

Dickinson and Gender

My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun -

In Corners - till a Day

The Owner passed - identified -

And carried Me away -

And now We roam in Sovereign Woods -

And now We hunt the Doe -

And every time I speak for Him -

The Mountains straight reply -

And do I smile, such cordial light

Opon the Valley glow -

It is as a Vesuvian face

Had let its pleasure through

And when at Night - Our good Day done -

I guard My Master's Head -

'Tis better than the Eider-Duck's

Deep Pillow - to have shared -

To foe of His - I'm deadly foe -

None stir the second time -

On whom I lay a Yellow Eye -

Or an emphatic Thumb -

Though I than He - may longer live

He longer must - than I -

For I have but the power to kill,

Without - the power to die -

Wild Nights - Wild Nights!

Were I with thee

Wild Nights should be

Our luxury!

Futile - the Winds -

To a Heart in port -

Done with the Compass -

Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden -

Ah - the Sea!

Might I but moor - tonight -

In thee!

Dickinson and Gender

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Emily Dickinson

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