This poem was written by American poet, Emily Dickinson, who was born in the 1800. This was the period where art was based on emotion; the “Romantic Period”. She was also born in the Victorian Era, where women had to be shackled to their pedestals and most had to be married by age eighteen. They were not allowed to vote, or earn money. This information should help the reader better understand the poem. When writing the poem “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun” Dickinson thought of what format to use to express her emotions; Quatrain (four verses). This format is used to express deep emotions at any time. She uses lines in her poem that seem the same but not quite; they are “slant rhymes”. Dickinson grew up in a time where abolition rose up (which is why her poetry is so deep); and in the most religious, morally upright and independent sections of the United States. Dickinson represents herself and her life, metaphorically, as a loaded gun, a phallic symbol that is associated with masculinity; everything “women” is not. Dickinson’s studies include her affairs as well as alleged relationships in regards to her sexuality, her absurdity in a mocking sense when looking at the women of her time, as well as even challenging the idea of Dickinson as a peculiar loner; therefore, explaining her position/emotions in a feministic world. In Dickinson’s “MyLife Had Stood—A Loaded Gun”, was viewed literally, thinking the poem was regarding a gun and its owner. After reading the poem over and over again the reader picks up on the emotions the writer portrays. Dickinson’s poetry carries deep emotion with her personal life and views. She uses the gun to speak out everything masculine: “Loaded Gun” (1) cruel not pleasant, “hunt the Doe” (6) kills not... ... middle of paper ... ...sed society with religious overtones throughout the poem, as though religion and God are placing pressure on her. The is a very deep poem that can be taken in may ways depending on the readers stature yet one thing is certain; this poem speaks on Woman’s Identity. Works Cited Dickinson, Emily. “My life had stood – a Loaded Gun” Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (10th Edition) (Kennedy/Gioia Literature Series). New York: Longman, 2006. 770. Nester, Nancy L. “O’Connor’s A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND. “The Explicator 64.2 (2006): 115-118. Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 24 Jul. 2009. "Emily Dickinson's Life." Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. Web. 04 Aug. 2009. .
The poem is written in the style of free verse. The poet chooses not to separate the poem into stanzas, but only by punctuation. There is no rhyme scheme or individual rhyme present in the poem. The poems structure creates a personal feel for the reader. The reader can personally experience what the narrator is feeling while she experiences stereotyping.
This is shown through the tone changing from being disappointed and critical to acceptance and appreciative. The speaker’s friend, who after listening to the speaker’s complaints, says that it seems like she was “a child who had been wanted” (line 12). This statement resonates with the speaker and slowly begins to change her thinking. This is apparent from the following line where the speaker states that “I took the wine against my lips as if my mouth were moving along that valved wall in my mother's body” (line 13 to line 15). The speaker is imagining her mother’s experience while creating her and giving birth to her. In the next several lines the speakers describe what she sees. She expresses that she can see her mother as “she was bearing down, and then breathing from the mask, and then bearing down, pressing me out into the world” (line 15 to line 18). The speaker can finally understand that to her mother the world and life she currently lived weren't enough for her. The imagery in the final lines of this poem list all the things that weren’t enough for the mother. They express that “the moon, the sun, Orion cartwheeling across the dark, not the earth, the sea” (line 19 to 21) none of those things matter to the mother. The only thing that matter was giving birth and having her child. Only then will she be satisfied with her life and
This poem was written around 1863 and published in 1929. It is one of Dickinson’s most controversial poems. It has triggered multiple different interpretations, ranging from the description of a male-female relationship over the battle and subversion of an oppressed woman, to seeing it as a poem about language and what it means to be a poet. “My life had stood a loaded gun” is one of the single most difficult poems Emily Dickinson wrote (Bauer,
The poetic work penned by Emily Dickinson is often viewed cryptically mainly due to the aspects of less punctuation and presence of destructive language that aligns imagery. For the purpose of analysis, the poem selected is Dickinson’s 754, ‘My Life has Stood – A Loaded Gun’ which was published in 1999. The poem has eluded critics and the interpretation of this work was carried out in a number of ways including frontier romanticism and a spirituality expression. On the other hand, the poem is underpinned with an extensive metaphor, in the light of which the life of the speaker becomes a loaded gun. The beginning of the poem depicts a typical American scene with the existence of a gun, a hunter, and a trip to the woods for hunting. The poem
“My Life had Stood a Loaded Gun” by Emily Dickinson is a poem about a gun sitting in the corner. The owner notices him and takes him hunting in the woods. They are walking through the woods enjoying the day and the kill and return home to sleep the night away. The true meaning of the poem is one of a young man that is called up to serve his country and does so without any hesitation.
The self- examination part of her religion part comes into play because this poem was very long and confusing; much like how I believed her life was. She had rheumatic fever and through out her life she suffered from periods of fatigue and faced death eight times by giving birth to eight children. I think that she wrote the poem to represent her life she felt that her life was very long and drawn out. She also saw that there were a l...
This poem by Emily Dickinson written in 1863, is about a woman’s (Dickinson’s?) suppressed anger. This is an anger so strong and violent that it is symbolized as a gun. The gun hides in a corner and the narrator exclaims that until the gun entered her life, her life stood still. The gun is a symbol of power, and is usually seen as a man’s tool for hunting, war and protection, but, for the narrator, it symbolizes a power that is possible should she choose to use it. In her time and even today it is difficult for women to express anger, one can only imagine how difficult it was in Dickinson’s time. This prejudice does oftentimes still exist for the modern woman if she is too verbal about her anger. The woman who dares speak her mind is often labeled a bitch and if she is an older woman an
Miller, Cristanne. “How ‘Low Feet’ Stagger: Disruptions of Language in Dickinson’s Poetry.” Feminist Critics Read Emily Dickinson. Ed. Suzanne Juhasz. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1983. 134-55.
In Emily Dickinson’s dramatic monolog “My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun,” a journey of a spiritual awakening is expressed. Dickinson writes about how a child of God is found then goes out to find other lost souls. Literary Critic Gregory Palmerino indicates “‘My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun’ maybe Dickinson’s most expansive poem if not her magnum opus, yet I do believe there is a discernible meaning – a center – to be found there. That center is her struggle with God” (84). Dickinson develops her poem using sound, symbolism, and figurative language.
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.
“Because I could not stop for death,” is a poem written by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson. Dickinson’s style of writing is very different from other poets. She writes down what comes to mind and doesn’t focus her attention on the grammatical errors she has in her poem. She writes in prose, uses many hyphens, and has unconventional punctuations. This, however, is what makes Emily stand out from other poets. Throughout the poem, Dickinson uses free verse, and doesn’t have a pattern of rhyme or meter and most of the lines begin with an unstressed syllable. The last line of each stanza is always short and to the point. Dickinson uses alliteration, as well as, imagery in her poem. Dickinson portrays that although death is a natural stage in one’s life, it is not the end of one’s journey, but a new beginning.
In the beginning of Emily Dickinson’s poem “754,” the narrator immediately compares her life to a weapon, “My Life had stood -- a Loaded Gun --” (754). Usually, when one thinks of a gun, he or she might think of death instead of love. In most cases, when a person owns or has a possession of a gun, that person might use the gun for protection. A gun is an inanimate object that has the potential or power to take the life of a human. From analyzing the poem “754,” the narrator symbolizes a loaded gun, full of potential, full of power, waiting to be in the possession of its owner for protection just as a bride waits to be wedded by her husband.
Emily Dickinson is known for her poetry especially surrounding the subjects of death, love, and nature. These themes, however, are less standard than they may appear at first glance. Dickinson writes poetry with complex themes, and in many cases, each of her poems may be classified by more than one theme. “Because I could not stop for death” is a prime example of Dickinson’s multifaceted work. Emily Dickinson personifies death along with an underlying theme of love in “Because I could not stop for death.”
The poem dramatizes the gradual process of falling apart. Dickinson speaks abstractly of the crumbling of the soul as a dimension of time, rather than being instantaneous. Man falls as a result of a continuous and small-scale decay of the spirit by way of evil inclinations. The complex structure of the poem reflects the underlying figurative meaning. The poem consists of three quatrains in iambic meter, alternating between tetrameter and trimeter. The poet’s use of hyphens guides the reader to read the passage slowly and thoughtfully. The slow pace mirrors the theme of slow decay. The most obvious factor of the poem’s structure is the seemingly random capitalization of mid-sentence nouns. The stress and personification of certain nouns emphasize the small elements of crumbling. The figurative meaning of the poem is built upon by showing that all things can be broken down, slowly but surely.
22). Despite her stubborn denials to be labeled, she was very much of a “New