Journal #21 Dickinson

Liana Laskin

English 48B

"39 [49]," "112 [67]," "124 [216]," "202 [185]," "207 [214]," "225 [199]," "236 [324]," "269 [249]," "320 [258]," "339 [241]," "340 [280]" by Emily Dickinson

March 18, 2009

"It seemed to me I should die too if I could not be permitted to watch over her or even look at her face" (Dickinson remebering the death of Sophia Holland, a close second cousin, two years later, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson)

Summary:

39 was about someone who lost something (possibly money) at least twice. After "Angels" helped the narrator get back on their feet, they were robbed and poor again. 112 is about someone who loses a battle and overhears the sound of the victorious army; of course, victory is only “sweetest” to the defeated rather than those who won. 124 and 340 talk about death, the former referring to those who have been in their graves and are now covered in snow, while 340 is about a person who has a funeral in their brain, almost making the poem from the perspective of a corpse being lowered into the ground. 202 and 236 are the religious poems. The first mocks “Gentlemen” who use “Faith” to see, whereas using a scientific instrument (like a microscope) would be better to make decisions with. In 236, the narrator mentions how it is better to “keep the Sabbath” at home rather than going to church and that she will still go to Heaven. 225, 320, and 339 are poems about pain, the first a transition from “Wife” to “Woman” and back (basically, slavery to freedom and back), the second is about the pain caused by religion, and the third is about a person who likes to cause pain and possibly death. 207 and 269 are sexually based; 207 is more about female sexuality and drunkenness. Poem 269 is very much about either heterosexuality or homosexuality and sexual intercourse, especially in lines 11-12 “Might I but moor – tonight/In thee!”

Response:

What I really love about reading all of these poems is that they are nice to read aloud because they do have a rhythm and sound nice. My favorite poems out of this group were 269 (“Wild nights – Wild nights!) and 340 (“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”) because I have read them before this class and I really love how they flow, especially 340. I also thought it was really cool to see the copy of 269 in Emily Dickinson’s handwriting because I was able to compare her version to the one in the book and see the subtle differences; the placement and different sizes of the dashes in Dickinson’s version made me think about what the other poems may have looked like in the original format. I think that the repetition of words in stanzas one and two of 340 really added to the experience of reading it. Also, when the poem just ends abruptly and without rhyming, it did remind me of how in a funeral, the casket might hit the bottom of the grave just as suddenly. I could really see Dickinson’s understanding of religion, especially in 202 (“Faith” is a fine invention”) and 236 (“Some keep the Sabbath going to Church”) because for someone to be able to intelligently mock something, I personally think that they have to know a lot about whatever that thing happens to be. Another thing about reading Dickinson’s poetry is that (for me, at least) it is not that hard to interpret the meaning of her writing and it can also be interpreted in many different ways.