Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson

I am not sure how to start off writing about her. I have read most of her poems and though she is a very talented writer, her works seem to be all focus on only a few topics; death, pain, god, and love. Her style of writing is very brief and packs a lot information into just a few short words. Though they contain a lot of information, Dickinson's poems seem to make more sense than the other poets we have read so far.

Her life was very dull, she stayed in her childhood house, in the same city, with the same friends but you wouldn't assume that by reading her poems. Her poems have a lot of passion within them. Here are a few poems that I have read and have come up with some thoughts about them.

In poem number 326, I cannot dance upon my Toes-; it shows that she is very imaginative. She knows that she cannot dance, she was never taught, but every now and then something comes over her that makes her want to dance. She writes that if she had knowledge of Ballet she would be known all over, but the truth is she would be to scared. While doing her turns in front of the audience she would mess up and make the leading ballerina mad. She still tries, even though she has no down, no ringlet, and no audience she puts her leg in the air and twirls.

Another poem that I found interesting was number 303, the soul selects her own society. Even though this one was discussed in the study guide, it made sense to me. The soul within us all selects who was want to be around us and cuts off anyone else. Not even chariots or an Emperor kneeling in front of us will change who we are. When we have made our decision it is set in stone. I am not sure if that is the exact way to interpret that poem, but to me that how I see it.

Poem number 67, Success is counted sweetest, was another one that I enjoyed very much. It made me think of a very vivid picture of what was happening. The first two lines tells a very true statement, people desire things when they don't have them. To achieve the "fruits of your labor" you must endure much. Not necessarily pain but I think in general you have to struggle to get what you want. The next two stanzas are where it gets very vivid. It depicts a battle scene in which neither side knows who the winner is, even though one side has taken the flag. As one of the soldiers who was defeated lay dying, he couldn't tell if it was