This is my letter to the world Analysis PDF

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Summary

Emily Dickinson English Extension 1 Notes...

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The poem has its genesis in her own frustrations and uncertainties about the publication of her work. Dickinson looks forward to the destiny of her poems after death. The letter is a metonym for her body of work (her artistry) Dickinson sees her poems as artefacts giving permanence to the mortal poet She sees the poet achieving relief, personal identity and communication through poetry Her chief emphasis is on the poet's building a world that reflects her mindscape

This is my letter to the World That never wrote to Me     

The letter refers to Dickinson's body of work - her attempts to communicate her thoughts to the world The world that never wrote to her is an extended metaphor for her whole potential audience, or perhaps its literary guardians, who will not recognise her talent or aspirations Alludes to Dickinson's yearning for acknowledgement in the wider world. It is also an acknowledgment that her work reflects her interior mindscape/sense of being. Dickinson does not feel part of the social/cultural consciousness. Refers to the paradox that her sense of isolation and her desperation Note the use of the dashes. Could suggest uncertainty (of emotions). Dashes could also reflect her way of thinking

The simple News that Nature told With tender Majesty  Personification - Dickinson gives Nature credit for her art and poetic material - the poet is merely the carrier of Nature's message  Dickinson's Romantic influences are reflected in this pantheistic view of Nature as a guide or nurturer of human experience  Refers to the poet's view that poetry should be judged on how well the poet achieves his or her intention - not merely on the merits of the poem alone Her Message is committed To Hands I cannot see  Nature's message, which Dickinson feels she is bound to relate to the world through her poetry  Her future audience. Other people will have control of her work  Transfers the precariousness of her achievement to its future observers as if they were somehow responsible for its neglect while she was alive  This is not necessarily a benign telling of Nature's secret, but rather the secret being told could be ominous For love of Her - Sweet - countrymen - Judge tenderly - of Me  Plea that she be judged tenderly for Nature's sake combines an insistence on imitation of Nature as a basis of her art with a special plea for tenderness towards her fragility  Shows that Dickinson yearned to be recognised in the literary canon  Dickinson uses the em dash to fragment language and to cause unrelated words to rush together

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Dickinson elliptically explores the inner intensity and double voice of the female perspective layered meaning She scrutinised the inextricable links between orthodoxy and the formation of an individual's identity and the agonizing paradox of belonging The indeterminacy (the vagueness and poorly defined quality) seemed consciously to be designed to draw out a variety of interpretations She explored the process by which cultures urge conformity...