In this first post, simply free-write for 20-30 minutes on one of the following poems you read tonight: 142, 327, 374, 54. Start your post with the number of the poem you've chosen.
Your post should touch on three things: something specific you understand, something specific you do not understand, and an idea about the poem as a whole.
I'm grading these only on the seriousness and effort you apply to them.
Due before the start of class Thursday.
Use this space to engage with our texts, with each other, and with your confusion.
#54
ReplyDeleteIn this poem, the poet in the first line plainly states "i like the look of agony." What i believe this to mean is that she looks for the truth in people rather than a false facade. When someone is in pain, they forget superficiality and are exposed. By saying it is "impossible to feign," it would seem to mean she is talking about the pain one feels right before death.
What i do not understand is what she means "By homely anguish strung."
The whole idea of the poem seems to be that the poet is able to truly connect with people on the cusp of death. They are vulnerable and indifferent to others' opinion. This truth forms of connection between her and the near-deceased as she is able to trust them more than the living.
142
ReplyDeleteI understand the line "I felt the columns close." When Dickinson says this, she means that Heaven has blocked her off. These columns are the gates of Heaven closing on her, telling her she is not allowed to enter.
I do not understand the line "Beyond the Dip of Bell."
The idea of the poem as a whole is that you must not sin because when you do, you are denied from Heaven. When this happens, you become trapped in the universe alone. You are merely a speck on the outside of the earth.
#54
ReplyDeleteThe line I understand is "I like the look of Agony,/Bceause I know it's true--" This is saying that she likes when she can tell that people are suffering because she likes to know how they are really feeling. People can't hid when they are in pain.
The line I don't understand is "By homely Anguish strung." I know that Anguish is like pain but I don't know what she means when she says homely.
The main point is that she likes to know when people are suffering and in pain. She likes to know how they are feeling and this is the only way they can't hide their feelings.
54
ReplyDelete"I like the look of agony because I know it's true." She likes this pain and suffering look because he knows that it is a serious and true look. No one fakes this look, nor do men "sham convulsion or simulate a throe." These are both like spasm attacks and he is saying that we don't fake these. She uses this to further explain her point of the agony expression. People do not fake these actions, but when she sees agony, she knows it is real. She likes this look a lot I can tell. The last four lines of this poem dont make much sense to me.
54
ReplyDelete"The Eyes glaze once - and that is Death - impossible to feign." Death is inescapable. There is no way to fake it. When your eyes close, you will leave this world and there is nothing you can do. There is no pretending. This is why she "likes a look of Agony." She wants to know how people really feel; no sugarcoating or anything.
I'm not sure what the "Beads upon the Forehead" represent.
The point is what's done is done. If you are going to die, you are going to die. You can't "sham convulsion." You cannot escape your own reality.
142
ReplyDeleteDickinson begins the poem by saying "I saw no Way - The Heavens were stiched - I felt the Columns close - ". It seems she's capitalized Way to direct importance to it. "Way", here, seems to be a path or entrance to something - Heaven. She says that the "Heavens were stiched - I felt the Columns close -" which could mean that the gateway to Heaven was closing off from her. This could mean two things: she has been denied entrance into Heaven or they are simply closing from her. It doesn't seem that we have reason to believe she was denied, just yet, but that they are simply closing from her. He says that "Earth reversed her Hemisphere". I would think that something reversed has been changed and is being brought back to an original state. It makes me think she is going back into herself, as if she just had a near death experience and she is coming back to Earth. This feeling makes her return to being "A Speck upon a Ball-". The speck is Dickinson while the Ball is Earth and that's where she stands in the universe - a speck on this wide Earth. I didn't understand the last line, "Beyond the Dip of Bell".
54
ReplyDeleteThe first line is very clear to me, stating that the look of agony is a true feeling; true agony is not something you can fake. She goes on to say "men do not sham convulsion, Nor simulate, a Throe," which just simply means that men cannot simulate or fake severe pain. The second stanza starts by putting these feelings of pain with an object, "The Eyes," which brings me to the conclusion that they are held by another human of which she is with. Dickinson goes on saying "and that is Death- impossible to feign" possibly implying that this person is having the true feelings of death which is something that is quite hard to do if you are not actually dying. The next line, "The Beads upon the Forehead," possibly are referring to sweat on the forehead of the person who is having this excruciating experience. The last line "By homely anguish strung" is a little confusing, because I do not understand how severe mental pain can be homely.
I understand the line "I saw no Way-The heavens were stitched-". She is saying that she had no way to get through to heaven, it had been sealed off. The fact that heaven is shut off to her could mean that she had done something wrong in her life. This would make it so she is unable to get in. I do not understand the line "And back it slid-and I alone". I believe the point of the poem is to show that you can be alone in the world once you have died. If one does something wrong then he or she will not be allowed into heaven leaving that person all alone in the world. Emily Dickinson is trying to tell people through poetry to not do wrong because it will hurt you later.
ReplyDelete269
ReplyDeleteI understand line five where it says
" It has no future but itself" I feel that this part is saying that the "PAIN" will go no further and know nothing more than itself and that it is nothing but a feeling which is incapable of being associated with something else.
I do not understand lines three and four when it says
"When it began or if there were
A day when it was not."
These lines confuse me because of the wording. I think that she is trying to say that there is no time that is begun or that it didn’t exist.
I also didn’t understand lines six and seven when it says
"Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive"
I don’t understand this also because of the wording.
Overall I think that the whole meaning of the poem is that pain is something that is permanent and has always been around and that pain itself has not changes but just the way that it is perceives and the situation that causes it.
142
ReplyDeleteI feel as though the overall theme of this poem is having such a large universe and earth begin a part of it. Everything contains something smaller just as the universe contains earth and earth contains people, but this idea also connects everything. It seems as though she is talking about going beyond boundaries such as the various explorations that occured in order to find new land, or the idea of going beyond planet Earth and exploring space. I’m not positive about these ideas though.
I do understand when she says in line six
"A Speck upon Ball-"
I think that she refers to herself as the "Speck" and the "Ball" is Earth. I think that she is saying that the Earth and the universe if so large that she, whom is only one, appears to be a "Speck".
What I don’t understand is when she says in line eight
"Beyond the Dip of Bell"
I have no clue what she means by "Dip" and I don’t know if she is referring to an actual "Bell" or if the word "Bell" is metaphoric for something else.
#142
ReplyDeleteDickinson opens her poem with a clear image of how she is alone and isolated from the rest of the world, "I saw no way- The Heavens were stitched". Everyone and everything around her is "stitched" and closing her out. She is trapped outside these heavens and cannot find her way in. The "earth reversed" and she now has to adapt to such different and unusual surroundings. What ever this "Dip of Bell" is, I think Dickinson is trying to show one must explore the unfamiliar. She feels so alone, like "a speck upon a ball", and cannot figure out her purpose in life.
142
ReplyDeleteI don't know if "I saw no Way" and "The Heavens were stiched" are meant to go together. Is it saying like i don't know why the heavens were stitched or are they unrelated lines?
I felt the columns close is a good image of something actually closing. It makes me actually think of the heavents closing up, the clouds in the sky closing like the curtains on a stage or a window closing.
The "Earth reversed her hemispheres-I touched the Universe" makes me think of the sky reversing and people being able to touch outerspace or live in space.
The the poem takes a step in the reverse direction and says the universe slid back, it went back to its natural state. Things always will return to their natural state no matter what. I don't know what "Went out upon Circumference" refers to. Could it mean the universe was outside of its natural state? or out of place?
142
ReplyDeleteIn this poem Dickenson gives us a few confusing lines that are explaining how she is getting cut off from the Heavens. He goes on to talk about how the Earth feels like it is going in reverse and it was sliding back and she is just a speck upon a ball. One line that confuses me is “Beyond the Dip of Bell,” I am not sure what the bell in this sentence and also don’t know why she is putting emphasis on the dip and ball. I understand the line “I felt the Columns close” she makes it seem as though these columns are the gates to Heaven and she is getting closed off, but I don’t understand why he put emphasis on the columns.