My understanding of Emily Dickinson
Nanshifeng
Astract: Why Emily Dickinon is regarded as one of the greatest American poets after her death? One of the most important reasons is that she created her own unique verse form which makes a departure from the traditional poetry of her period and it seems she doesn't fit to any particular group but to herself.
Key words: technique, particularity, formality, imagery and figurative language.
Although Emily Dickinson was a poet in the Romantic period, her poems are so informal and personal which makes her poems posses a unique style and artistic charming .the use of short words, capitalization, unusual pause and the techniques of off-rhymes all contribute to the particularity of her poems. Here I'd like to talk a bit about the techniques used in her poetry from two aspects: Formality and language. Let's start from the technique used in her verse form.
1.Stanza form
The most important source of Emily Dickinson's verse form is the hymnal. Being greatly influenced by Christian, she liked to read "Bible" and listened to church hymns from which she took her meters with the rhyme scheme of either abcb or abab. For example, "success" is written in iambic with a rhyme scheme of abcb:
Success is counted sweetest
By these who en'er succeed
To comprehend a nectar
Require sorest need.
Here "sweetest", "succeed", "nectar", and "need" are rhymed in abcb.
2.rhyme
Dickinson was famous for using off rhyme or we call "near rhyme". The term off-rhyme means that rhyme word don't really rhyme with each other, it is only a close rhyme with which Emily tried to avoid dullness. For example, using identical rhyme (sane, insane) sparingly, eye rhyme (though, through), vowel rhymes (see, buy), imperfect rhymes (time, thin), and suspended rhyme (thing, along).
3.Pause
The particularity of Dickinson's poem also lies in the original use of "dash". She repeatedly uses the dash in order to pursue freshness and dramatic effect. The dash helps to highlight important words by showing a pause of emphasis, anticipation, suspense, irony, imagination and mildness of tone. No wonder some western artist thought that Dickinson use "dash" as a musical device---rest which builds up a singsong rhyme in her poems.
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--
...
With Blue--uncertain stumbling Buzz--
Between the light--and me--
And then the Windows failed--and then
I could not see to see--
This is one of the typical poems in which the technique is represented. The poem is formed without any other punctuation but dashes. Although it fully deals with the subject of "Death", the use of dash helps to drives the awesome of death but also keep the author's original idea---Death is awesome and unpredictable. "I heard a Fly buzz--when I died--", the pauses here have the function of both emphasis and suspense. It seems to tell the read that it is during the speaker's dying that she heard a fly, and in the following lines there must be something connected with the "fly".
"Was like the Stillness in the Air-- / Between the Heaves of Storm---"
The first dash here seems serves as a pause before "the stillness" is sharply contracted to that between the Heavens of storm, and this stanza ends with a dash for the reader to imagine what it is like before a storm is coming---followed by anger, restlessness, and terror. Through this the speaker tells us indirectly the scene upon death. At the last moment, the speaker supposes to see the "God",
...
For that last Onset--when the King
Be witnessed--in the Room--
...
This eagerness is emphasized by using the dash to connect the words, and seemingly leaves the question to the reader " If I can really see the God when I die? While the last sentence "I could not see to see---" seems to ask the reader "I could not see to see "what"? either being the "fly" or being the "God", this incomplete sentence ending with a dash shows the author's doubt on the existence of the God---If people can really can go up to the heaven after death, but no one can anticipate it. With the help of dash, vision, imagination and author' feeling of calmness are rightly and gracefully passed on to the reader.
Apart from this, she often uses Capitalization freely and many words begin with capital letters for the purpose of emphasis. Let's take a look at one of her poems: Because "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 passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess--in the Ring--
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--
We passed the Setting Sun--
...
In this poem, "Death", "Carriage", "Ourselves", "Field of Gazing Grain", "Setting Sun" are all the important words which begin with a capital letter. These words no longer carries the original meaning but figuratively and concisely used to express the speaker's higher awareness of Death .
Dickinson' poems are also special for the reason she often leaves out words, use unusual words and shorten words for conciseness and simplicity without paying attention to conventional grammer. She use "ne'er" instead of "never", worth---worthwhile, inner---inward, morn--morning, oft---often, themselves---themselves and possibler---more possible. That also makes her poems difficult to read .
4.Imagery and Figurative language
Another feature of her poetry comes from her ideas like most poets, she realizes that she, as a poet, must suggest, and can't tell. She mustn't present her theme directly but do it indirectly through the use of imagery and symbols. She is good at the use of metaphors. The brevity of her poetry is a testimonial to her artistry in handling imagery and figurative. She expresses universal idea by using specific, original images, symbols and metaphors. In "success" , Emily creates an image of victory. The poem mentions " the purple host/who took the flag" and "strains of triumph" which the image clear. In "I' m nobody! Who are you?" she introduces an image of a "somebody". Words build the image most persuasively are "like a frog/to tell you name the livelong day/To an admiring boy". She compares a famous person to a frog who sits in a marsh and tells its name to the admirers in the swamp. The two things being compared in the simile are like because they are both publicly seen and admired by others.
In "I heard a fly buzz---when I died", "fly" is symbolized to indicate "the short life". The poem is successfully by the image of "fly" expressed the author's point of view upon the moment of death.. a very pretty -disturbance ironically overwhelms a grandly tragic scene by distracting the speaker from the awesome of death.
Also in "Because I could not stop for Death" the technique of symbol are well vividly used. This is a poem of the author' s viewpoint of eternity of death. By anthropomorphizing Death as a kind and civil gentleman, the speaker establish a dialectical relationship between death and stages of life on earth. The carriage by which she and immortality travel may symbolize a coffin, and then figuratively the poem may symbolize the three stages of life. " School" may represent childhood; "Fields of Gazing Grain", maturity and "Setting Sun" old age. " Ground" may means "tomb". Through her universe use of symbols, the speaker comprehends that death like the "Horses Heads", leads " toward Eternity".
To sum up, Emily Dickinson seems to be wholly original and developed her own poetic form with many peculiar features. These not only make her poetry sent forth a unique charming along with her keen observation, originality, imagination in the poetry garden but remains as an invaluable reference for the study of modernism of poetry.
My understanding of Emily Dickinson
NAN SHIFNG
Astract: Why Emily Dickinon is regarded as one of the greatest American poets after her death? One of the most important reasons is that she created her own unique verse form which makes a departure from the traditional poetry of her period and it seems she doesn't fit to any particular group but to herself.
Key words: technique, particularity, formality, imagery and figurative language.
Although Emily Dickinson was a poet in the Romantic period, her poems are so informal and personal which makes her poems posses a unique style and artistic charming .the use of short words, capitalization, unusual pause and the techniques of off-rhymes all contribute to the particularity of her poems. Here I'd like to talk a bit about the techniques used in her poetry from two aspects: Formality and language. Let's start from the technique used in her verse form.
1.Stanza form
The most important source of Emily Dickinson's verse form is the hymnal. Being greatly influenced by Christian, she liked to read "Bible" and listened to church hymns from which she took her meters with the rhyme scheme of either abcb or abab. For example, "success" is written in iambic with a rhyme scheme of abcb:
Success is counted sweetest
By these who en'er succeed
To comprehend a nectar
Require sorest need.
Here "sweetest", "succeed", "nectar", and "need" are rhymed in abcb.
2.rhyme
Dickinson was famous for using off rhyme or we call "near rhyme". The term off-rhyme means that rhyme word don't really rhyme with each other, it is only a close rhyme with which Emily tried to avoid dullness. For example, using identical rhyme (sane, insane) sparingly, eye rhyme (though, through), vowel rhymes (see, buy), imperfect rhymes (time, thin), and suspended rhyme (thing, along).
3.Pause
The particularity of Dickinson's poem also lies in the original use of "dash". She repeatedly uses the dash in order to pursue freshness and dramatic effect. The dash helps to highlight important words by showing a pause of emphasis, anticipation, suspense, irony, imagination and mildness of tone. No wonder some western artist thought that Dickinson use "dash" as a musical device---rest which builds up a singsong rhyme in her poems.
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--
...
With Blue--uncertain stumbling Buzz--
Between the light--and me--
And then the Windows failed--and then
I could not see to see--
This is one of the typical poems in which the technique is represented. The poem is formed without any other punctuation but dashes. Although it fully deals with the subject of "Death", the use of dash helps to drives the awesome of death but also keep the author's original idea---Death is awesome and unpredictable. "I heard a Fly buzz--when I died--", the pauses here have the function of both emphasis and suspense. It seems to tell the read that it is during the speaker's dying that she heard a fly, and in the following lines there must be something connected with the "fly".
"Was like the Stillness in the Air-- / Between the Heaves of Storm---"
The first dash here seems serves as a pause before "the stillness" is sharply contracted to that between the Heavens of storm, and this stanza ends with a dash for the reader to imagine what it is like before a storm is coming---followed by anger, restlessness, and terror. Through this the speaker tells us indirectly the scene upon death. At the last moment, the speaker supposes to see the "God",
...
For that last Onset--when the King
Be witnessed--in the Room--
...
This eagerness is emphasized by using the dash to connect the words, and seemingly leaves the question to the reader " If I can really see the God when I die? While the last sentence "I could not see to see---" seems to ask the reader "I could not see to see "what"? either being the "fly" or being the "God", this incomplete sentence ending with a dash shows the author's doubt on the existence of the God---If people can really can go up to the heaven after death, but no one can anticipate it. With the help of dash, vision, imagination and author' feeling of calmness are rightly and gracefully passed on to the reader.
Apart from this, she often uses Capitalization freely and many words begin with capital letters for the purpose of emphasis. Let's take a look at one of her poems: Because "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 passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess--in the Ring--
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--
We passed the Setting Sun--
...
In this poem, "Death", "Carriage", "Ourselves", "Field of Gazing Grain", "Setting Sun" are all the important words which begin with a capital letter. These words no longer carries the original meaning but figuratively and concisely used to express the speaker's higher awareness of Death .
Dickinson' poems are also special for the reason she often leaves out words, use unusual words and shorten words for conciseness and simplicity without paying attention to conventional grammer. She use "ne'er" instead of "never", worth---worthwhile, inner---inward, morn--morning, oft---often, themselves---themselves and possibler---more possible. That also makes her poems difficult to read .
4.Imagery and Figurative language
Another feature of her poetry comes from her ideas like most poets, she realizes that she, as a poet, must suggest, and can't tell. She mustn't present her theme directly but do it indirectly through the use of imagery and symbols. She is good at the use of metaphors. The brevity of her poetry is a testimonial to her artistry in handling imagery and figurative. She expresses universal idea by using specific, original images, symbols and metaphors. In "success" , Emily creates an image of victory. The poem mentions " the purple host/who took the flag" and "strains of triumph" which the image clear. In "I' m nobody! Who are you?" she introduces an image of a "somebody". Words build the image most persuasively are "like a frog/to tell you name the livelong day/To an admiring boy". She compares a famous person to a frog who sits in a marsh and tells its name to the admirers in the swamp. The two things being compared in the simile are like because they are both publicly seen and admired by others.
In "I heard a fly buzz---when I died", "fly" is symbolized to indicate "the short life". The poem is successfully by the image of "fly" expressed the author's point of view upon the moment of death.. a very pretty -disturbance ironically overwhelms a grandly tragic scene by distracting the speaker from the awesome of death.
Also in "Because I could not stop for Death" the technique of symbol are well vividly used. This is a poem of the author' s viewpoint of eternity of death. By anthropomorphizing Death as a kind and civil gentleman, the speaker establish a dialectical relationship between death and stages of life on earth. The carriage by which she and immortality travel may symbolize a coffin, and then figuratively the poem may symbolize the three stages of life. " School" may represent childhood; "Fields of Gazing Grain", maturity and "Setting Sun" old age. " Ground" may means "tomb". Through her universe use of symbols, the speaker comprehends that death like the "Horses Heads", leads " toward Eternity".
To sum up, Emily Dickinson seems to be wholly original and developed her own poetic form with many peculiar features. These not only make her poetry sent forth a unique charming along with her keen observation, originality, imagination in the poetry garden but remains as an invaluable reference for the study of modernism of poetry.