Welcome to the land of symbols, imagery, and wordplay. Before you travel any further, please know that there may be some thorny academic terminology ahead. Never fear, Shmoop is here. Check out our...
Hymn-like Poem in QuatrainsDickinson's poems are frequently compared to church hymns. Church hymns are often written in rhyming quatrains with a regular rhythm. We'll get to the rhythm in a minute,...
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker must be thinking, "Not again! Get out of there!" She makes a gesture like someone trying to knock the water out of her ear after swimming, but it's not use...
In at least one way, Dickinson poems are like a Looney Toons cartoon: anything can happen. You could be walking down the street, and a piano suddenly falls on your head. You're nestled in a coffin,...
"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" sounds like a child trying to tell a really depressing story. This kid has spent way too much time hanging around funeral parlors.Children tend to tell stories that...
Ha! Fooled you! This poem has no title. Actually, none of Dickinson's poems have titles. One reason is that she never intended to publish most of them. This is not to say that she never intended fo...
Capital LettersTyping out Dickinson's poems on a Computer requires the frequent Use of the Shift Key. She uses a Lot of Capital Letters. We're not sure why She did this, and Editors used to Remove...
(8) Snow LinePeople tend to disagree about how difficult Dickinson's poetry can be. We think this is a very readable work, but we consider it a sign of Dickinson's enormous talents that she can tur...
Dickinson is often portrayed as a recluse who rarely visited people outside her house and only wore white dresses. In other words, she was "a lovelorn woman too fragile for the world." But many wom...
GFunerals, caskets, numbness, and a terrifying free-fall. Sexy? Well, not to us.
