Comparing Wright And Dickinson's Poems

The two works of focus are James Wright’s poem Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota, and Emily Dickinson’s poem I heard a Fly buzz-when I died. The formal features that will be used to analyze these works are the use of first person singular speaker, and content type. In addition, these two formal features work together to in each poem to clarify the illustration of the main idea. Interestingly, content type and first person singular speaker are used quite similarly in each work, but with their own small variations.

Before analyzing these two works, the two formal features must be understood first. Using a first person singular speaker means the poet is using I statements frequently and is talking about themselves.

For example, each work hardly mentions anyone else, besides the poet in a series of I statements. As for the type of content, it will be described as focusing on images, thoughts, or both. For instance, both poems portray images of the physical surroundings, and include the poets’ intuitions. Moreover, the formal features help the reader comprehend the poets’ illustrations of the main ideas, and know the messages that are being presented. Although these formal features are present in each poem, they are not used in the exact same way.
Dickinson and Wright use first person singular speaker quite similarly in certain instances within their works. For example, all of Wright’s work uses his own view alone on the situation being illustrated. In addition, most of Dickinson’s poem also maintains a steady focus on her interpretation of her physical surroundings. To put it another way, both works only or mainly consider the poet’s perspective, and mostly leave out the perspective of other people and/or any other outside view point to portray their works. In essence, the focus on the poets’ outlook allows the reader to understand the poem’s overall message much better because it gives the reader the sense of looking through the poet’s eyes instead of simply trying to imagine it on the reader’s own. Even though this in an instance when the two poets use the first person singular speaker similarly, they do not do so continuously.
Wright and Dickinson do in fact implement their own subtle variations into the first person singular speaker. Wright’s poem takes a narrow focus on images he is illustrating, and his thoughts alone. For example, Wright only portrays the physical surroundings around him and thoughts that only concern himself, while never directly mentioning the involvement of any other person. Keeping a narrow focus on himself within the imagery and perceptions of his work makes it obvious that Wright’s main messages pertain to solely himself. On the other hand, Dickinson’s work manages to mention images and ideas that are not all about her. For instance, Dickinson illustrates other grieving people in the same room as her deathbed, and implements messages associated with these other people. Choosing to include other people in the imagery of her poem leads the reader to believe Dickinson’s main messages pertain to people outside of herself. In other words, Wright’s use of first person singular speaker is far more egocentric than Dickinson’s use of the formal feature. Additionally, these subtle differences in the way first person singular speaker is implemented allows the reader to realize Dickinson’s work goes a bit beyond her own reality, and that Wright’s poem just stays in his own reality. Even though first person singular speaker makes the similarities and differences between these work obvious, they can be compared on another formal feature.
Content type is another formal feature Dickinson and Wright can be analyzed on. Specifically, the use of thoughts within the poets’ content. Dickinson illustrates multiple thoughts of her own within her work. For instance, Dickinson portrays a series of her thoughts on ideas such as death, spirituality, and humans in the natural world. Including her thoughts on humans in the natural world, spirituality, and death allow the reader to comprehend that her poem is mentioning multiple thoughts of hers, and that each idea is significant in its own way. As for Wright’s work, it illustrates a single one of his conceptions. For instance, Wright includes his opinion on his life decisions and overall success in the last line of his poem. Implementing his single thought at the end of his work shows the reader that it contains one main idea that is the focus of the entire poem. Thus, the similar inclusion of the poets’ thoughts allows the reader to essentially see into the minds of the poets, which makes understanding the main messages of their works significantly easier. Interestingly, the content of these works shares another characteristic.
Wright and Dickinson also implement images of their imagined or possibly current physical setting at the time, within their content.

For example, Dickinson’s poem illustrates her laying on her deathbed while a fly is buzzing around the room. Furthermore, Wright’s work portrays him lying in a hammock on a farm while noticing the animals and nature that are apart of it. The implementation of images in both works gives the reader the sense of looking through the eyes of the poet, which can clarify the main idea because the physical setting usually goes hand in hand with the main idea. To put it another way the similar use of imagery in the content of these poems provides an additional resource that helps the reader understand the main point of the poem. However, the content of these works is not completely

alike.
Plenty of differences exist between the content of the Dickinson and Wright works. Specifically, each poet portrays their thoughts in a different manner. For instance, Wright only includes one conception of the quality of his life in the last line of his work. Wright’s decision to only include one of his thoughts allows the reader to recognize his poem has a single central idea, instead of a cluster of numerous messages. On the other hand, Dickinson portrays her thoughts on death, spirituality and other themes throughout her entire poem. Dickinson’s choice of multiple thoughts clarifies that her work is meant to address various ideas, instead of just a central message. In essence, both poets do include their conceptions in their content, but do so in their own unique ways that help the reader grasp the main messages of each work. Interestingly, the content of these works contains another difference.
The content of Dickinson and Wright also differs in terms of the portrayal of images.

Wright’s images are most likely based on actual objects and beings he is seeing with his own eyes. For instance, his images consist of various features he is noticing about a farm while laying on a hammock. Wright’s images of actual objects and beings allow the reader to infer that his poem is connect to actual events in his life instead of being purely based on his current mood. However, Dickinson’s images are most likely based on objects and beings she is imagining in her mind, because it is very hard to believe someone on their deathbed was writing poetry. Dickinson’s use of imagined images clarifies her main messages because it strongly suggests they are connected to her current mental state, instead of literal events in her life. Therefore, the content of these works includes numerous images, but each work uses them differently to illustrate their main

ideas.
In conclusion, these works use the formal features of first person singular speaker and content type similarly, while including their own variations. Additionally, the unique variations in the way each poet uses the formal features allows the message and/or messages of their work to be portrayed more clearly. Furthermore, these formal features seem to clarify the messages of these poems in a more effective manner than different formal features of other works. Other poems use people and/or objects as the speaker/interpreter, which makes comprehending the overall meaning quite a bit more challenging. In addition, other works are composed of images or thoughts alone which can make interpreting their main ideas difficult, because there can be so many different thoughts that do not seem to be connected or there can be only images that do not appear to be suggesting anything concrete. Thus, Wright’s use of the formal features enhance the clarity of the main message of his poem, which is that he thinks his life is unfulfilled. Additionally, Dickinson's use of the formal features improve the main idea of her work, which is that she is thinking about death and where she will go after.