Brothers,
Emily Dickinson is well known for--as far as I'm concerned--two things:
1. imagism: her imagery; the images she uses to capture a moment in time, or a physical or emotional state of being.
For instance, instead of placing the word "isolation" in a poem about "isolation," she will instead capture the emotions one feels when isolated and use them as an indirect indication of the overall theme of "isolation." Her poetry is therefore suggestive and rooted specifically in man's mental, emotinal, or physical experience of some state of being. More simply, a poem about God doesn't have to include God's name if we were to write one in Dickinson's poetic style.
2. ellipses: the omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words that would complete or clarify the construction; her thoughts, then, are "elliptical" and this is most evident in her short phrases and the incomplete sentence structures within her verse. You'll notice various dashes and other breaks in lines of her verse that give the reader "pause" to reflect on the images she creates.
All that said, take some time this weekend to read and reflect upon her poems as excerpted in 101 Great American Poems. After parousing some of her work, take one poem that struck you and interpret it.
If you decide to read your fellow classmate's commentary and wish to respond with your own opinion, please feel free to do so. I recommend you doing it, but with discretion, open-mindedness, and respect.
Interpret away,
BRob
p.s. For those of you who have not published your own poetry in the previous blog assignment, please do so. I enjoy reading your work and find in it inspiration for my own.
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20 comments:
I'm going to interpret her poem called "I'm Nobody! Who Are You?". In it she seems to play someone who wishes to be someone magnificent but to everybody that person is nothing.
the second part of the poem suggests that "Nobody" she is talking to is just as important as she is in a way.Overal,, she seems afraid. The first part of the poem she seems to be afraid for the peson she is talking to more than herself. She seems to struggle for love and hopes that the person with her will stay with her, but in the end it doesnt help her at all.
I am going to interpret her poem called "There's no Frigate Like a Book".
In this poem she seems to be describing a book as something that can take us to another "dimension". She says a book can take you to places you could not normally go to. She believes there is nothing like a good book that can get you indulged in reading.
She syas in the second half that the poorest to the richest of people can enjoy a story that excites them an is considered a book that couldn't be put down. She believes a book can change how a person views society or whatever the book revolves around. she thinks that a great book can truly shape the human being.
The poem I chose is "There is no frigate like a book." The poem is saying that a book is much better than a ship. The ship can take us to different places in the world but a book can take us anywhere we want. I chose this poem because that is what I love about reading. I put myself in as the main character. Then I can go anywhere the book goes such as space or back in time even into the future. Dickinson right about books and I enjoyed the poem because I can agree with what she is saying.
I`m going to interpret the poem "If I can stop one heart from breaking". I believe that Dickinson is trying to say that if we see something hurt or in need that we should help it.It gives you a sense of being when you help others and when you are dying you realize that if you did nothing else at least you helped something or someone.
This poem reminds me of the story about the boy and the starfishes.In this story a boy is walking on a beach after the tide, and all along the beach are thousands of starfish.The boy realizes that soon the starfish will die.The boy then starts throwing the starfish back into the ocean.A man walking by sees this and asks the boy why he is doing this,and tells him he can`t save all the starfish.The boy responds by telling the man what do you think it means to the starfish I saved.
im going to interpret "it i can stop one heart from breaking." to dickinson is trying to say that if she can make a difference in one person at one point in time that she will not worry about what ever is going to happen because she has made a difference in the world. to me this goes very deep and makes me understand that one event that puts you in a happy mood could in some way affect another person and place them in a happy mood as well.
I have chosen "Success is counted sweetest". This poem is about successes being the best for someone who chronically is defeated. Just like if Bill Gates wins the lottery is like, "Oh I'm slightly richer", but when Lenny the garbage man who is 58 with no family and a drinking problem wins the power ball after 40 years of playing the lottery, he will be one happy garbage man. You have to really want victory to truly appreciate it just like is the message. Just like Philadelphia. We have the longest sports championship drought in the country. So if if New England won the super bowl its like yeah we won again. But if we won people would be in the streets celebrating for days. YEAH.
I am going to respond to the poem "There is no frigate like a book"
In this poem I think that Emily Dickinson is interpreting that when you read a book you should be open minded. A book can take you places you've never been before, things you've never seen before, and things you've never heard of before. When you read a book you have to act as if you're the character who’s going places or experiencing things. Emily is trying to say that reading is an extraordinary thing you just have to use your imagination. In the last half of her poem I think that she is trying to say that anyone can be taken to these far off lands, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do.
I am goiong to interpret "I died for beauty". This poem tells me two things. Two dead people are buried in adjoining tombs. One died for beauty and one died for truth. Both of the deceased people in the tomb say that they died for the same thing and that they are kinsmen. Dickenson is basically telling us in this poem that truth is beauty. Also, toward the end of the poem, the narrator says that they talked with each other through the walls until the moss covered their names. This also tells me that people who spoke for truth and died for it were forgotten.
I will interpret "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking" by Emily Dickinson. I think that she trying to say that if she can help one person and make their life easier, than her life would be worth it and it would have meaning to her. The "fainting robin" would be an example of a person in need. When she says "I shall not live in vain" I think that she means that she can be a peace with herself and be happy.
I am going to interpret "There is no frigate like a book". In this poem, Dickenson is telling the readers that books are the cheapest form of travel. A frigate is a ship and she is saying that with books, we can travel anywhere. Dickenson emphasizes that the trips taken with books are cheap and anyone, including the poor, can take the journey. The line "How frugal the chariot That bears the human soul" means that the books are our method of transportation that take our minds and souls to different destinations.
I am goin to interpret the poem "There is no frigate like a book". I feel that in this poem she is describing the fact that a book can take us places in our imagination that we could never go in real life. Things that we can imagine that we will never experience or see with our own two eyes. It is almost like a book is a refuge for people who cant get out and do things that they want to do and what they want to see. They can experience it through their imagination and a book.
i am going to interpret "success is counted sweetest". This poem is about chance and opportunity, as well as luck. She is saying that if there is success from what opportunities you have had it is much more appreciated by those in need and those who are less fortunate then the rest of the people. An example is that if us in an upper middle class life are offered help we take ti for granted but if you are in a lower class or poor, you are much more grateful for the help you are getting from the people around you. This is because it is less common for them to receive it even though they need it. Going along with receiving it, you have to want it and need it. You are likely to achieve victory over your problems if you go out looking for a thing to fix it or help it rather then if you just waited for someone to come along and fix everything. She is telling us it is better to die trying then to not put up fight , and that achieving victory for others is also a victory in itself as said in the metaphor "On whose forbidden ear, The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!"
I choose the poem, “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” to interpret. In the poem she speaks of somewhat an isolation. Like she wants to be someone that she is not, and that she is looked down upon. Also she seems like she wants to keep herself hidden and not let people know who she is, and also that she is not very interesting. She is striving for friendship and someone to be with, to free herself from isolation.
I interpreted because i could not stop for death. I think that she doesnt believe in heaven but that when you die, you travel into another life. She sees the rest of the world as she passes by ever waiting until she finds out that they are heading into eternity. She is contemplating what life is after death, assuming that there iss no heaven. Life would go on into eternity, and you would see everything that happens, but time would not mean anything to you.
If I can stop one heart from breaking
Emily Dickinson explains in this short, concise poem how if one person can help one other person, they have had an impact on life and therefore have lived for a reason. Not having an effect on anyone would be a vain life because the person would have not had any record of living since they had not come in contact with anyone, so this poem shows that in order to be truly alive and have a positive effect on the world, one must help at least one creature, try to save one thing and benefit the world in at least one small way.
The poem "There is no frigate like a book" speaks of the power of literature to stimulate creativity and transport the reader anywhere they choose. Poetry can encompass the beauty of nature and cause the reader to experience the writing as if it was physically happening. Dickinson is saying that it is the nature of poetry and literature to "take us lands away", to take us out of the current reality and inspire our own interpretation of the literature. The last lines say "How frugal is the chariot that bears a human soul!" Dickinson is saying that the human soul is frugal in its connection to nature and God. Not many experience nature and God as Dickinson and the transcendentalists did.
I choose to interpret the poem "I i can stop one heart from breaking". In this poem Dickinson is saying that she wants to help to help those in pain or suffering in order to heal her own soul. If she is to cure one aching life or breaking heart, then she feels that she will have lives a good life and a life not in vain. She also aims to help nature by healing a faintng robin to its nest in order for it to be safe and Dickinson's soul to be cleansed and renewed.
I am going to interpret "There is no frigate like a book." This poem is saying that poetry can take us away from our suroundings into an unreal place. To get to this unreal place alll you need is poetry or a book and anyone can go. Dickinson is almost saying that it is a privilage to be able to read and by reading imagining
I chose to interpret the peom "Because I Could not Stop for Death". I think that in this poem the carrige is life itself, and that it takes you to death. Sometimes you get there fast and sometimes very slow, as Dickenson is saying in her poem. In her "carriage" she went to school, she saw all of the sunsets. Before she finally reaches death she remembers everything that happened in her life, the main parts at least.
I chose to do "I died for beauty."
I believe that this poem is about a speaker who claims that she died for beauty, but wasn't 'adjusted' to her tomb because a man who died for truth was in a tomb right next to her. It talks about how they met at that one night, and they communicated amongst each other until the moss reached their lips and covered up their names. I believe that Dickinson shows optimism about the afterlife (shown in that she has a friend to speak with) but combines it with the dreaded thought of death (the thought of that she's laying dead speaking to a dead body opposed to being at the 'pearly gates'). This major idea of this poem is to show how everything you have in life, feelings, etc. are swiped away by death. It displays two sides of death, the positive side and the cold and frightening side.
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