Emily Dickinson Parallelism

As one of the most famous introverts, Emily Dickinson internalized her volcanic emotions and turned them into literature. In this poem, she openly expressed her adoration towards Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson, her sister-in-law, close friend, and role model. Dickinson illustrated a compelling, goddess-like image of Susan and revealed her own lack of confidence by utilizing a combination of parallelism, imagery, diction, and other poetic devices.
The most prominent literary devices used in this poem are parallelism and imagery. In lines 1, 3, and 5, Dickinson wrote “Her breast is fit for pearls” (Dickinson 1), “Her brow is fit for thrones” (Dickinson 3), and “Her heart is fit for home” (Dickinson 5). The repetition added rhythm, divided the poem into three sections, as well as drew attention to the three imageries listed: breast, brow, and heart. Breast is often associated with maternal qualities, which hints at the comfort and protection Susan brought to her solitary life. Moreover, pearls are sought after for their exquisite beauty. Dickinson showed the breast’s allure by describing it as suitable for pearls. Besides being a

Words relating to the ocean, such as “pearls” and “diver”, were utilized in lines 1-2. In lines 3-4, “crest”, which also means a tuft of feathers upon an animal's head (“crest” 1a) was used. Additionally, the poet compares herself to a sparrow building a nest in lines 6-8. This motif not only connects to the poet’s rural upbringing and her love for nature, but also demonstrates Susan’s similarity to Mother nature. According to the Random House Dictionary, Mother Nature is “a personification of the forces of nature as a controlling and regulating maternal being, sometimes creative and caring”. Although Susan was not biologically related to Dickinson, they still cared for each other. To the poet, Susan served as a motherly figure, who could count on when she needs familial love and