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"Nature" is what we see-- The Hill—the Afternoon-- Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee-- Nay—Nature is Heaven-- Nature is what we hear-- The Bobolink—the Sea-- Thunder—the Cricket-- Nay—Nature is Harmony-- Nature is what we know-- Yet have no art to say-- So impotent Our Wisdom is To her Simplicity. In Dickinson’s poem “Nature is what we See” we find her discussing the simplicity of Nature itself. Upon reading this poem the reader can see that the explicit meaning is initially that Nature itself is simple in all things. However, a second, more in-depth reading shows that the speaker actually implies that nature is more complex. The poem is started off with visual things that the reader can see, the “simple” things, and then mentions abstract things, things we cannot see, such as “heaven.” Further into the poem the speaker states that Nature is also what is heard, and provides examples of things that are heard in nature like thunder and birds. The reader goes on to read all the things that speaker says nature is, also runs into examples of nature’s true complexity. The speaker uses the word “Nay” in-between her examples of nature is to show the reader that Nature is no one true thing. Perhaps the reader will now be able to see that nature is simple because of its complexities. The main theme of this poem is that Nature is complex and humans cannot understand it. The more the speaker peers into nature, the more confused and frustrated she appears in trying to understand something that is not understandable. The reader sees this frustration through the use of dashes in between every line to show that the speaker can’t complete one sentence because of how many different things nature can be. The speaker repeatedly implies that humans do not notice the simple things in life, or they tend to ignore them. In the last line of the poem, "Nature is what we know," this thought reflects on the fact that nature is a powerful mystery, and it will always remain indescribable.
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Why do I love You, Sir?
"Why do I love" You, Sir? Because-- The Wind does not require the Grass To answer—Wherefore when He pass She cannot keep Her place. Because He knows—and Do not You-- And We know not-- Enough for Us The Wisdom it be so-- The Lightning—never asked an Eye Wherefore it shut—when He was by-- Because He knows it cannot speak-- And reasons not contained-- —Of Talk-- There be—preferred by Daintier Folk-- The Sunrise—Sire—compelleth Me-- Because He's Sunrise—and I see-- Therefore—Then-- I love Thee-- “Why do I love You, Sir?” is one of many of Dickinson’s poems that depict the feeling of love. She begins her poem with a rhetorical question wondering why she loves such a person in the first place. The character in this poem at once begins to use ample amounts of sensory imagery to compare her love. “The wind does not require the Grass” (line 2). In this line the speaker uses an analogy to bolster the reader’s sensory imagination of wind and grass, and the speaker’s love of a certain person. In turn, the representation for this poem is very abstract, in that the poet leaves the lines ending in dashes, and never completing a sentence. Her use of dashes suggests that the love shows for this person is, in a very specific way, never-ending. This poem shows a more vague, abstract, and ambiguous side of the speaker. The language presented in this each line gives comparison, or perhaps reason as to why the speaker loves the mysterious person so much. If any precision is present in this poem, it does little to enhance language of the poem as much as the ambiguity does. Along with ambiguity is connotation. It is almost certain that the writer has multiple meanings within the lines of her poem, which could be another reason why the lines are left unfinished. This poem would not be as abstract and open to interpretation if Dickinson had explicitly stated how the speaker felt and why. Instead, we find the speaker questioning herself in her choice of love, and comparing it to things that are not in need of each other such as wind and grass. The language of this poem allows for the call of imagination of the reader to be put into perspective as well as when it comes to interpretation. It written another way the poem’s ambiguous beauty. I"m Nobody! Who Are You?
I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one’s name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog! Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 Massachusetts. Dickinson lived a mostly reclusive and introverted lifestyle before her death in 1886. Like most poets her writing was more famous after she died. In this poem, the speaker presents a persona that explicitly states that the speaker is “Nobody.” This “nobody” speaker quickly comes to mean that she is outside of the more sociable people. She continues in her poem to discuss how dreary it s to be “somebody.” During her lifetime Dickinson wrote over a thousand poems, but only had about ten published. Maybe she is touching on her failure to become a published poet, and the fact that to society she is “Nobody.” Although to most it would be a sad thing to be nobody, the speaker presents a more happy side of being “nobody.” In the poem it shows that being “somebody” would be a dreadful thing with so much work to keep his or her image up. The speaker in this poem can be inferred to be content with being “nobody” in society. The theme of this poem can be related back to self-hood and all its relations. The speaker speaks about how he/she is content with themself and how changing would something extremely undesired. It helps to understand how their identity is reveled in this poem, and how it relates to self-hood. The identity is revealed as one of a happy poem and bolsters the theme of how self-hood is an important factor in life, and that obscurity is best desired. The tone is more content and observant than anything. Dickinson creates a character that observes other peoples life, and how living in their shoes would be undesirable. The speaker is content living the life of a more secluded person, and shows this throughout the tone of the passage. Emily Dickinson created a character that is complacent, observant, and shows that being alone is okay. |
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