Symbolism in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry
Symbolism in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry
Kevin Hardy Jr.
English 215
Dr. Maxwell
Poems have many different interpretations, but let it be known that different people could see poems in many different ways. In Emily Dickinson’s poetry, she uses interpretations that refer back to mortality because of her past experiences throughout life that influenced her to write. But, there are other hidden facts that you would be able to see Dickinson’s poems, she uses symbolism of immortality, death, sorrow and personification throughout the three poems that I will be discussing in the following paragraphs. She describes each meaning to only symbolize one thing and without reading the whole poem one would not be able to notice this. But, I will attempt to persuade and explain why I feel that in Dickinson’s poems 465, 585 and 712 has a slight focus on immortality, but in the same instance if you would not have read the whole poem you would not have found out that the poem was also focusing on personification. Symbolism is a huge part of Emily Dickinson’s poetry because her life was heartbreaking but she used her poetry as a way to express the death, or sorrow that she was going through. Dickinson focuses on a lack of immortality in Poem 465 to symbolize how a soul gets lost in the after life. Not only does Dickinson’s poem show sadness and sorrow, but the greater point is that she also symbolizes immortality, as shown in these stanzas from 465:
I herd a Fly Buzz-when I died-;
The Eyes around-had wrung then dry-;
With Blue-uncertain stumbling Buzz-
Between the light-and me-
And then the Windows failed-and then
I could not see to see- (1144)
The person described passes on into the afterlife surrounded by their family members, waiting patiently to be apart of the beautiful afterlife that is so well known. The dying person gets distracted by a fly and he misses what he had been waiting on forever, the afterlife. Dickinson states:
“I herd a Fly buzz-when I died_-”
Kevin Hardy Jr.
English 215
Dr. Maxwell
Poems have many different interpretations, but let it be known that different people could see poems in many different ways. In Emily Dickinson’s poetry, she uses interpretations that refer back to mortality because of her past experiences throughout life that influenced her to write. But, there are other hidden facts that you would be able to see Dickinson’s poems, she uses symbolism of immortality, death, sorrow and personification throughout the three poems that I will be discussing in the following paragraphs. She describes each meaning to only symbolize one thing and without reading the whole poem one would not be able to notice this. But, I will attempt to persuade and explain why I feel that in Dickinson’s poems 465, 585 and 712 has a slight focus on immortality, but in the same instance if you would not have read the whole poem you would not have found out that the poem was also focusing on personification. Symbolism is a huge part of Emily Dickinson’s poetry because her life was heartbreaking but she used her poetry as a way to express the death, or sorrow that she was going through. Dickinson focuses on a lack of immortality in Poem 465 to symbolize how a soul gets lost in the after life. Not only does Dickinson’s poem show sadness and sorrow, but the greater point is that she also symbolizes immortality, as shown in these stanzas from 465:
I herd a Fly Buzz-when I died-;
The Eyes around-had wrung then dry-;
With Blue-uncertain stumbling Buzz-
Between the light-and me-
And then the Windows failed-and then
I could not see to see- (1144)
The person described passes on into the afterlife surrounded by their family members, waiting patiently to be apart of the beautiful afterlife that is so well known. The dying person gets distracted by a fly and he misses what he had been waiting on forever, the afterlife. Dickinson states:
“I herd a Fly buzz-when I died_-”