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, 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

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