Emily Dickinson - Notes

Nicke011

Does anyone have some simple and neat notes on Emily Dickinson, explanations of her poems? Or maybe any advice what should I do?

My English is very bad, and I struggle with the poetry mostly, because I speak English for less than 2 years, since I moved to Ireland. However I'm doing HL and don't ask me why, because I don't know.

I have fully prepared only Heaney I got 62% in my Mocks overall, because Heaney was on it. I'm not counting English for the points, that's why I haven't put much work in it, but I still don't want to fail the exam.

So anything will be appreciated, thanks

MightyMandarin

What poems have you done? I can only help you with the poems I've done, a bird came down the walk, I felt a funeral in my brain, I taste a liquor never brewed, The soul has bandaged moments, Hope is the thing with feathers and I heard a fly buzz when I died.

With dickinson, her key ideas are her mental anguish and also nature. In many of her poems (I felt a funeral, I heard a fly buzz, the soul) she discusses her sense of mental anguish. Obviously this is quite a difficult thing to discuss to ordinary people who may not experience her troubles. So, she uses plenty of imagery and symbols to make it easier to understand, such as the funeral idea and the goblin in the soul. This would usually be what I discuss, but really it depends on the question being asked.

Nicke011

MightyMandarin wrote: »

What poems have you done? I can only help you with the poems I've done, a bird came down the walk, I felt a funeral in my brain, I taste a liquor never brewed, The soul has bandaged moments, Hope is the thing with feathers and I heard a fly buzz when I died.

With dickinson, her key ideas are her mental anguish and also nature. In many of her poems (I felt a funeral, I heard a fly buzz, the soul) she discusses her sense of mental anguish. Obviously this is quite a difficult thing to discuss to ordinary people who may not experience her troubles. So, she uses plenty of imagery and symbols to make it easier to understand, such as the funeral idea and the goblin in the soul. This would usually be what I discuss, but really it depends on the question being asked.

We have done these poems in class:
I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed
"Hope" is the Thing with Feathers
There's a Certain Slant of Light
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Heard a Fly Buzz - When I Died

Why is she so much about dying? What's the background of her thoughts? That would be worth mentioning in an essay, I guess.

Can someone write a short analysis of some of her poems? What's actually happening in them? Because when I read the poem, I don't understand anything, and even if I look up and translate it, it doesn't make any sense.
It can be any poem, not only those I mentioned above. Thanks

aleatorio

Nicke011 wrote: »

We have done these poems in class:
I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed
"Hope" is the Thing with Feathers
There's a Certain Slant of Light
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Heard a Fly Buzz - When I Died

Why is she so much about dying? What's the background of her thoughts? That would be worth mentioning in an essay, I guess.

Can someone write a short analysis of some of her poems? What's actually happening in them? Because when I read the poem, I don't understand anything, and even if I look up and translate it, it doesn't make any sense.
It can be any poem, not only those I mentioned above. Thanks

For a bit of background on her, she was alive during the 1800s and back then they didn't have much understanding of mental illness, but it's though that she was either a manic depressive or bi-polar which explains why her poems are so varied from death and sadness to happiness and nature and whatnot..
She was a recluse and spend most of her life in her room in Amherst :P

MightyMandarin

Nicke011 wrote: »

We have done these poems in class:
I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed
"Hope" is the Thing with Feathers
There's a Certain Slant of Light
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Heard a Fly Buzz - When I Died

Why is she so much about dying? What's the background of her thoughts? That would be worth mentioning in an essay, I guess.

Can someone write a short analysis of some of her poems? What's actually happening in them? Because when I read the poem, I don't understand anything, and even if I look up and translate it, it doesn't make any sense.
It can be any poem, not only those I mentioned above. Thanks

ITAL- Dickinson is pretty much 'high on nature' (kinda cheesy). The title paradoxical ie how can you taste a liquor never brewed?, that may be worth mentioning. This poem is more about nature and how it intoxicates her. The 'tippler leaning against the sun' is a noteworthy image, kinda shows her being joyous and happy, quite odd for her. I usually avoid this poem, but it could be useful for contrasting with some of her, darker poems.

IFAF- Here she is really intense about her mental anguish, using the funeral to make it more real, and a bit easier for us to understand. She is uncomfortable, the "beating, beating" of the drum, shows this pretty well. At the end she describes "a plank in reason broke, and I dropped down and down" showing her descending into an abyss of some sort. Very dark poem.

IHAFB- Again quite a disturbing poem. Basically she's on her deathbed, surrounded by family and friends, I think. She's quite depressed, "I could not see to see" conveys this well. The emphasis of this poem is on the nature in which we treat death with lots of care, while an ordinary fly disturbs it completely. She mocks this reverence in a sense. The poem is really dark.

Hope- This is quite an uplifting poem, strange for her. She basically tries to define hope by using the symbol of the bird. (Symbols are a common feature of Dickinson). She describes the intense and difficult environments in which it endures, "chillest land/strangest sea". She also mentions that "never in extremity, it asked a crumb of me", cleverly using the bird image again in order to describe hope.

I haven't done the other poem, so I can't help you with it, although I would suggest you look at "the soul has bandaged moments" if can. It is quite a good poem and for me, is great because she's depressed but has an interlude of ecstasy, so you can link it with "I taste a liquor".

Nicke011

Thanks for the help! I appreciate it!

As requested via PM, here are my notes and essays on Heaney. They are not A notes, but I think you can find something useful in them
Download

TheBoss11

A few of Dickinson

TheBoss11

TheBoss11 wrote: »

A few of Dickinson

Some more. You might not see them great but if you read through them they can be handy.

aleatorio

Heres some Dickinson notes I made today

C.Man16

Have a look at "skool.ie" They have all the notes and points on these poems. Also, what is there to mention about Dickinson's use of dashes in terms of her style? What effect have they on her poetry? You can't really leave it out as they're so predominant in her poems.

MightyMandarin

C.Man16 wrote: »

Also, what is there to mention about Dickinson's use of dashes in terms of her style? What effect have they on her poetry? You can't really leave it out as they're so predominant in her poems.

There's actually not much significance, or so I believe. Usually the dashes at the end of her poems such as I Felt A Funeral, convey an open-ended sense, that the reader has to think for themselves. Kind've like a 'what happens next?' scenario. This is quite different to other poems such as Hope, where she finishes with a fullstop, indicating the idea is complete, so to speak. The dash can be used to prolong ideas but also to give a physical representation eg.'between the light-and-me', which is actually really interesting.

Nicke011

Thanks for help and advice guys!
Good luck everyone