Appearance In Emily Dickinson's Poems

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How can it be that Emily Dickinson can create two poems focusing on appearance, but make each have a different type of appearance? The idea of what is visible to our eyes is described in both of these poems, “A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest” and “To Fight Aloud Is Very Brave”, both by Emily Dickinson. One poem is easier to imagine and the use of imagery enables us to visualize it quite nicely, whereas he second poem, has a much deeper meaning to it, that we cannot visualize simply. Both of these poems are similar and have many differences.

"The wounded dear leaps highest" speaks of how damaged, wounded things appear more joyful. Trials can often appear to be blessings. "The cheek...hectic stings!" probably refers to someone who's been slapped, but cheeks are usually red with excitement, love or some positive emotion. This is one example of many in the poem of when pain appears good. In the last stanza Dickinson expresses that no one will rush to a hurt person's aid because pain often appears good. On the other hand, in the poem, “To fight aloud is very brave”, Dickinson talks about the unsung heroes. It is very noble to do things so that everyone can see, but it is even more so to do good when nobody's watching. This is similar to the Bible passage where Jesus speaks of two offerings- one large one made for attention and one small one given in secret. The secret one, he says, is more worthy. That is the same kind of message as "to fight aloud is very brave." Both poems focus on the deceptiveness of outward appearance. It can seem like someone is happy when they are really in pain and it can seem like someone is very noble when really the noblest acts …show more content…

Emily Dickinson has a way of interpreting emotions into two types of appearances to grab the reader’s

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