Sample Answer for “The dramatic aspects of Dickinson’s poetry can disturb and delight readers”

"The dramatic aspects of Dickinson's poetry can disturb and delight readers" to what extent do you agree with this statement? Support your answer with refrence to both themes and language found in the poetry of Emily Dickinson on your course.

Dickinson's poetry uniquely showcases human emotion and her philosophical thoughts throughout her life- this produced dramatic poetry that can both disturb and delight readers. She experimented with expression to free it from conventional restraints, crafted a new persona for the first person, and created a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realised in her writing. Dickinson created a delightful and disturbing atmosphere within her poems through her style. She questioned life and the afterlife, had an immense fascination with nature and death, and had a very peculiar way of thinking. As Martha Dickinson Bianchi stated: "Fascination was her element, She was not daily bread, she was stardust. Her solitude made her and was part of her." I will be discussing the following poems in my analysis: "Hope" is the thing with feathers-" "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," "A narrow Fellow in the Grass", "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died-" "I taste a liquor never brewed-" and "The Soul has Bandaged moments-".

Firstly, I think Dickinson's most delightful poem is: "I taste a liquor never brewed". In this poem, Dickinson uses the conceit of drunkenness and intoxication to describe her love of nature. Right from the poem's start, we are greeted by a line that would initially confuse readers: How was a liquor never brewed? The poem is filled with descriptive and playful imagery such as: "debauchee of dew" and "tankards scooped in pearl". It is clear from Dickinson's joyful imagery that she is comparing her love of nature to being completely consumed by it. "when 'landlords' turn the Drunken bee out of the foxglove's door", this metaphor of a flower, the foxglove, being a bar and comparing the bees journey of collecting pollen to drinking in a bar creates an entertaining image for the readers of this poem, creating a calm and delightful atmosphere. The last stanza is where Dickinson solidifies the whimsical feeling of this poem, "till Seraphs swing their snowy hats- And Saints- to windows run" This is where Dickinson suggests God himself approves of this gluttony. The sibilance also contributes to the overall ambience of the poem. Lastly, "To see the little Tippler, Leaning against the - Sun!' finishes the poem on a calming and restful note as the tippler, a drinker, is leaning against the sun, just as a drinker might lean against the bar. Overall, it is arguable that this is Dickinson's most delightful poem; the theme of nature compared to intoxication also contributes to the airy feeling of the poem.

Secondly, "'Hope' is a thing with feathers" is also a delightful and comforting poem. In this poem, Dickinson compares hope to a "thing with feathers" as she attempts to define what she understands hope to be and its role in our lives; she thought of life as a journey we must undertake, victories and challenges included. To Dickinson, hope is an abstract concept. She uses neutral pronouns to emphasise that hope is not something we have a firm grasp on. The "feathers" suggest that hope is a separate entity, possibly spiritual, as it can soar and ascend. In the line "and sore must be the storm- that could abash the little bird," Dickinson refers to life's difficulties as a storm and uses quite a harsh verb to describe what effect that has on the "bird", representing hope. She believes that hope "perches in the soul" and is always with you no matter the occasion. This is one of Dickinson's more positive poems as she illuminates her beliefs on hope and portrays it as a selfless entity: "yet- never- in Extremity, It asked a crumb of me". The use of dashes and capitalisation contribute greatly to the aura of the poem; Dickinson wants to emphasise her thoughts and make it clear what she believes hope to be. The capitalisation in "Extremity", "Gale", and "strangest Sea" implies that Dickinson wanted to enlarge life's hardships through the use of capital letters to show how hope perseveres. The use of dashes also contributes to the depth of the poem. It allows readers to slow down between her thoughts and grasp what she defines hope to be. "Hope is a thing with feathers" is, without a doubt, another of Dickinson's more charming and optimistic poems.

"a Narrow Fellow in the Grass" is quite an odd poem- it is commonly thought that this poem is from the perspective of a man reminiscing about his childhood when he saw a snake in the grass. This poem is thought-provoking as there is a mix of threatening and delightful language. The poem starts on a graceful and calming note with the line "Occasionally rides" and leaves readers questioning, is this a snake in the grass? With the line, "the Grass divides with a Comb," the poet emphasises the movement of this "narrow fellow" while also referring to hair as the snake "divides" and "Combs" it. At first, the poet thinks it is an old piece of leather, "have passed I thought a Whiplash", that was "Unbraiding in the sun"--again another reference to hair. In this stanza, the air of the poem becomes more confusing and makes the reader slightly uneasy. Dickinson elaborates on her infatuation with nature in the fifth stanza. On a lighter note, she brings the reader back to a calming and nurturing environment. The quote "Several of Nature's People, I know, and they know me" creates a familiar and soothing ambience for the reader before returning to a more sinister feel. In the final stanza, the poet finishes on a disturbing and uneasy note: "But never met this fellow, attended or alone, without a tighter Breathing and Zero at the Bone". This suggests that while Dickinson is a friend of "Nature's People", there will always be a fearful and terrifying creature amongst them. The poem leaves the reader with feelings of anxiety, worry and fear.

Turning towards Dickinson's more morbid and disturbing poems, "I heard a fly buzz when I died-" and "I felt a funeral, in my brain-" both focus on Dickinson's fascination of death and the afterlife. In her home, her bedroom faced a cemetery. It is likely this caused her to become obsessed with death and often think of her own. In "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain", Dickinson imagines her own funeral. The poem starts off with an eery opening, "Kept treading- treading", and her use of repetition emphasises the sounds she could hear at the time. This poem is heavily based upon the loud and threatening noises she could hear, such as "kept beating – beating", "A Service, like a Drum", "and creak across my soul", and "boots of lead". This language based around the senses intensifies the reader's fear throughout the poem. With the line "And I, and Silence, some strange Race, Wrecked, solitary,here-" the poet creates a lonely and uncomfortable atmosphere for the readers that is unsettling to experience. The abrupt end to this poem, "And hit a World, at every plunge, And Finished knowing – then-" also contributes to the feeling of uneasiness for the reader, as if it all ended too soon. In this poem, Dickinson tries to show that she thinks her funeral will be dark, heavy, and isolated. The poet believes that in the end, only the soul and mind truly matter; anything physical is gone to waste, forever rotting in the earth.

Similarly, in "I heard a fly buzz when I died", Dickinson again imagines her death, only this time it is the actual action of dying and describing what she thought she would hear and feel at the time of her death. With "The Stillness in the Room" at the start of the poem, we are instantly introduced to the atmosphere surrounding the speaker at her time of death. The stillness is compared to the "Stillness in the Air, Between the Heaves of Storm", implying that this was the so-called "calm after the storm", suggesting that her death was long anticipated for. "The Eyes around- had wrung them dry And Breaths were gathered firm" suggests that the people around her at her time of death were expecting this, and had already said their goodbyes and started their journey through grief. When Dickinson says, "When the King Be witness- in the Room-" it could be referring to God or an angel of death that would transport her soul to heaven, giving the reader both a sense of completion and agitation. In the line "what portion of me be Assignable – and then it was There interposed a fly", we witness the frustration Emily felt when her own death was being interrupted by a tiny and irritable being. This suggests the decomposition of Dickinson's body as flies are usually connected to discomposure and death. She references the "stumbling Buzz – between the light and me-" as it is well known that hearing is the last sense to go. This could be referring to either her vision shutting down or the 'light at the end of the tunnel' that people believe to see as they are dying; this interruption gives a feeling of restlessness to the reader as they, too, were ready for Emily's ascent into the afterlife. There are two different interpretations to the last lines of the poem, "And then the windows failed- and then I could not see to see". Perhaps, since her death was rudely interrupted, she was not satisfied with her ending. Alternatively, it could also be that she was expecting an afterlife and realised there was nothing in the end. This disturbing poem provokes thoughts of morality for the readers, making them question their beliefs of an afterlife and its existence. This is one of Dickinson's most disturbing and thought-provoking poems.

Lastly, out of all of Dickinson's poetry, "The soul has bandaged moments" is the her most emotive and disturbing poem. It personifies fear while also expressing Emily's interaction with it. The poet sets the tone for this poem by describing how she feels when she can sense fear approaching her, saying, "When too appauled to stir She feels some ghastly Fright come up And stop to look at her-". She continues the eery tone of the poem by describing her fear of having long fingers and freezing hair, creating an uncomfortable space for the reader as they can clearly imagine this creature with long fingers and frozen hair, most likely signifying how cold and harsh fear can be. Dickinson describes how fear invades her privacy and captures her so she cannot express herself creatively, saying it "hovered – o'er- Unworthy that a thought so mean Accost a theme – so – fair-". The third stanza of this poem- "When bursting all the doors- she dances a Bomb abroad; and swings open the Hours"- is quite energetic and explosive, describing how, when the soul is free, it bursts with creative energy and flows easily. Dickinson quickly discards the idea of a free soul and alludes to it being once again encapsulated and enslaved. the poet refers to the soul as a felon, "The Souls retaken moments- When, felon led along With shackles on the plumed feet and Staples in the song" an incarcerated being with plumed or bruised feet suggesting that it is worn out and malnourished. She also claims that the song is stapled which could be referring to her creativity being locked away or forbidden, which makes the reader tense. The poet finishes the poem with a couplet: "The Horror welcomes her, again These, are not brayed of Tongue-" Dickinson personifies fear and horror within this poem and describes the chilling and disturbing effects it has on her, which then transfers onto the readers. Dickinson's descriptive and eerie language, such as; "freezing", "felon", "staples", "shackles", "retaken", and "bandaged", create an edgy and disturbing scene for the reader, which is why this can be considered the most disturbing of poems by Emily Dickinson.

From my analysis of the poems above, I have accurately explored why I agree with the statement that "the dramatic aspects of Dickinson's poetry can both disturb and delight readers". Emily Dickinson's wide range of emotive language and descriptive imagery, alongside the dramatic aspects and original thoughts, certainly make her poetry well-known and respected today. I think she was ahead of her time with her philosophical thoughts and unique writing style. Due to the modern feel of her poetry, her work will undoubtedly continue to be studied for many years yet.