Analysis Of My Life Had Stood A Loaded Gun By Emily Dickinson

An accomplished poet, Emily Dickinson considered many topics that were once seen as controversial. Ideas of religion, death, and women all play large factors within her poetry. In some cases, the reader must decipher a deeper meaning than what lays upon the surface. Dickinson contemplates the identity of women within “[My Life had stood- a Loaded Gun]”. Rich with symbolism, the speaker puts forth a sense of destructive power that women behold, yet are trapped from using until they speak out. The relationship between master and gun is representative of Dickinson’s view of a connection between wife and husband. Within “[My Life had stood- a Loaded Gun]”, Emily references the identity of women during her time period. The poem holds the intricate

“and now We hunt the Doe” (Dickinson, 6). The mention of a doe is blatantly a symbolic reference to a female. A normal hunter would strive for a buck not a small doe. This pertains to the underlying purpose of the words, meaning that the power of women is hunted. Dickinson is attempting to show that while women have a certain ability, they will be denied satisfaction of that power because of the ownership of man. The end of the stanza “and every time I speak for him- the mountains straight reply” references the power a woman has (Dickinson, 7-8). If a women would use her words or ability to speak for man, she would be met with a wall, or with criticism. The mountain is a reference to the looming transcendence, which stands in the way of greatness, or of speech. In continuance of the poem, the third stanza references explosive power. “It is a Vesuvian Face Had let it’s pleasure through” (Dickinson, 11-12). According to the dictionary, Vesuvian means to relate to Mount Vesuvius, the volcanic mountain, which erupted and demolished the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum (Dictionary.com). The line speaks of women and their silent and friendly appearance. Mount Vesuvius looks all together nice and mountain like, however what lies underneath has the potential to destroy. Dickinson is attempting to put across that a woman is much like a volcano. They

Having completed around one thousand eight hundred poems, she is known for her talk of death, religion, and womanhood, all seen as controversial topics at the time she wrote them. Her discussion of the feminine is not apparent to the reader right away, within “My Life had stood a – loaded gun”. Dickinson tended to create hidden meanings within her poetry, so the reader must decipher her words. She speaks of the identity of women in a society run my men. The poem, great in its hidden meaning, holds thoughts of a woman’s destructive power of a long