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The surface meaning of emily dickinson poems the goal
The surface meaning of emily dickinson poems the goal
Emily dickinson poem 324 analysis
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The Extensive Use of Symbolism in Emily Dickinson's Poem #315
As I had no prior experience with Emily Dickinson's work, I was unsure of what to expect from this assignment. I read the poem about fifteen or twenty times before I was even able to ask myself legitimate questions about Dickinson's thoughts as she composed this work over two hundred years ago. I couldn't even look to the title for guidance..."ugh, this is going to be tough" ran through my head over and over. I began by researching #315 on the Internet and in our library. I found more opinions than I could possibly wade through in one summer semester and resigned myself to limiting my research to the basics and forming my own opinions.
I have learned in literature classes since past-many, many years ago I might add-that understanding symbolisms that exist in poetry is the key to understanding the poem itself. Emily Dickinson's #315 is absolutely FULL of symbolism, so much so that I had to break it down--almost word-by-word-- to begin to understand what Dickinson is trying to tell her readers.
The first question that I had-and probably the one of most significance-- was "who is "HE"???" Dickinson begins with "He fumbles at your soul..."-- I couldn't even understand who "HE" was. After researching this, I realized that I was not alone and that various readers of #315 have debated my question over decades.
Robert Weisbuch in Emily Dickinson's Poetry (1972) explained that he felt that the primary figure (He) is intentionally ambiguous because "his" identity doesn't really matter. Weisbuch further postulated that Dickinson wants the reader "not to understand the cause, but to focus on experiencing the terrible moment" (pp. 98). Mr. Weisbuch seems to feel that "He" is many things (e.g. pianist, smithy, Thor and wind) and yet "his" definition is of little importance.
I was somewhat relieved when I read Weisbuch's theory on "He" because each time I read "He fumbles..." I come to believe that "He" is a different entity. I first felt that Dickinson was referring to a prominent male figure in her life-maybe her father or her lover-but during subsequent readings my thoughts turned to less obvious possibilities such as God or non-human objects such as a storm. Even after a week's worth of research, I still am not certain that I fully understand which direction she is hoping to lead her reader.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's voices, feminist visions: classic and contemporary readings. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she spent most of her life with her younger sister, older brother, semi-invalid mother, and domineering father in the house that her prominent family owned. As a child, she was curious and was considered a bright student and a voracious reader. She graduated from Amherst Academy in 1847, and attended a female seminary for a year, which she quitted as she considered that “’I [she] am [was] standing alone in rebellion [against becoming an ‘established Christian’].’” (Kort 1) and was homesick. Afterwards, she excluded herself from having a social life, as she took most of the house’s domestic responsibilities, and began writing; she only left Massachusetts once.
Finn, Geraldine. On the Oppression of Women in Philosophy – Or, Whatever Happened to Objectivity?. Feminism in Canada: From Pressure to Politics. Edited by Angela R. Miles and Geraldine Finn. Black Rose Books: Montreal. 1982. 145-173.
...arge proportion of the raw data is inaccurate, out of date, biased, or otherwise useless.13
Gailey, Christine Ward. “Feminist Methods” Ch. 6 in Bernard, H. Russell Ed. Handbook of Methods In Cultural Anthropology. London: A Division of Sage Pub, Inc.
One of Emily Dickinson’s greatest skills is taking the familiar and making it unfamiliar. In this sense, she reshapes how her readers view her subjects and the meaning that they have in the world. She also has the ability to assign a word to abstractness, making her poems seemingly vague and unclear on the surface. Her poems are so carefully crafted that each word can be dissected and the reader is able to uncover intense meanings and images. Often focusing on more gothic themes, Dickinson shows an appreciation for the natural world in a handful of poems. Although Dickinson’s poem #1489 seems disoriented, it produces a parallelism of experience between the speaker and the audience that encompasses the abstractness and unexpectedness of an event.
Reading a poem by Emily Dickinson can often lead the reader to a rather introspective state. Dickinson writes at length about the drastically transformative effect a book may have upon its’ reader. Alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, Dickinson masterfully uses the ballad meter to tell a story about the ecstasy brought by reading. In poem number 1587, she writes about the changes wrought upon the reader by a book and the liberty literature brings.
Emily Dickinson is one of the great visionary poets of nineteenth century America. In her lifetime, she composed more poems than most modern Americans will even read in their lifetimes. Dickinson is still praised today, and she continues to be taught in schools, read for pleasure, and studied for research and criticism. Since she stayed inside her house for most of her life, and many of her poems were not discovered until after her death, Dickinson was uninvolved in the publication process of her poetry. This means that every Dickinson poem in print today is just a guess—an assumption of what the author wanted on the page. As a result, Dickinson maintains an aura of mystery as a writer. However, this mystery is often overshadowed by a more prevalent notion of Dickinson as an eccentric recluse or a madwoman. Of course, it is difficult to give one label to Dickinson and expect that label to summarize her entire life. Certainly she was a complex woman who could not accurately be described with one sentence or phrase. Her poems are unique and quite interestingly composed—just looking at them on the page is pleasurable—and it may very well prove useful to examine the author when reading her poems. Understanding Dickinson may lead to a better interpretation of the poems, a better appreciation of her life’s work. What is not useful, however, is reading her poems while looking back at the one sentence summary of Dickinson’s life.
...e and important introduction to the notion of schooling. Children are intellectually stimulated though play and play-like activates, rather than formal instruction. When a child listens to poetry and songs, they are learning to grasp phonics. The play that takes place with water, sand, and containers form the groundwork for understanding basic math concepts. Matching, sequencing, and one on one communication are all actives that are done over and over in preschool settings, and help children prepare to learn academics. Watching other children pursue a challenging tasks is also helpful. Children not see use parents as role models but also other children. They are often more inclined to do something another child is doing, then what an adult shows them. The presence of other children and a wide variety of material are big advantages of leaning academics in preschool.
Much has been said about Emily Dickinson’s mystifying poetry and private life, especially during the years 1860-63. Allegedly it was during these years that the poetess, at the most prolific phase of her career, withdrew from society, began to wear her “characteristic” white dress and suffered a series of psychotic episodes. Dickinson tended to “theatricalize” herself by speaking through a host of personae in her poems and by “fictionalizing” her inner life as a gothic romance (Gilbert 584). Believing that a poem is “the best words in the best order” (to quote S.T. Coleridge) and that all the poems stemming from a single consciousness bring to surface different aspects / manifestations of the same personal mythology, I will firstly disregard biographical details in my interpretation of Dickinson’s poems 378, 341 and 280 and secondly place them in a sort of “continuum” (starting with 378 and ending with 280) to show how they attempt to describe a “plunge” into the Unconscious and a lapse into madness (I refrain from using the term “journey,” for it implies a “telos,” a goal which, whether unattainable or not, is something non-existent in the poems in question). Faced with the problem of articulating and concretizing inner psychological states, Dickinson created a totally new poetic discourse which lacks a transcendental signified and thus can dramatize the three stages of a (narrated) mental collapse: existential despair, withdrawal from the world of the senses and “death” of consciousness.
Although preschools were mainly invented for the convenience of adults (Melton 182), the have evolved from sandboxes and finger painting to letter blocks and handwriting instructions. Everything is created for the advancement is actually benefiting the preschooler now and in the future even more so.
This use of irony makes the poem more interesting to the reader. Imagery is a big component of most works of poetry. Authors strive to achieve a certain image for the reader to paint in their mind. Dickinson tries to paint a picture of?death? in her own words,.
Through the use of teacher directed and student initiated activities, students become more engaged in learning and therefore develop the skills necessary to become self-directed learners. By stimulating their interest and motivating a love for learning, teachers can use preschool curricula to build school- and life-related skills. There have been links between play and child development, especially in the areas of creativity, reasoning, executive function, and regulation of emotions (Bodrova, Germeroth, & Leong 2103). Active play is needed for healthy brain growth and not only strengthens muscles, but stimulates brain activity leading to higher levels of interest and curiosity. Through play children are able to try out different ways to handle and address stressful or hurtful situations and stand strong when facing challenging situations. Play enhances children’s memories and attention spans and allows children to connect their ideas into realities and realities into deeper understandings. Play supports children’s language development by improving their verbalization and receptive/expressive vocabularies. Using preschool curricula to build school- and life-related skills is a great practice as long as it is developmentally
In today’s preschool culture, the role and value of play is very important for children; a rich environment filled with playmates, opportunities to learn how to share, take turns, self-regulate, and make life-long friends only scratches the surface of why play is central for children’s development. Parents aren’t seeing what is happening: what they see as random play is actually being utilized to help the child grow socially, emotionally, and physically. Parents believe that children should be spending more time working at an academic level instead of spending their time playing with blocks, puzzles, or being with friends.
Many of her poems were a reaction to the rejection of many publishers and other literary critics. This particular poem’s character comes from Dickinson’s reaction to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s statement that “poets are thus liberating gods.” Here she is challenging the established literati by questioning popular Emersonian views. In particular, this poem is a reaction to Emerson’s belief that “the poet is the sayer, the namer, and represents beauty.” Basically, it is a reaction to the idea that the poet is the creator of beautiful words, liberating the common people by giving them words they would not have access to.