Emily Dickinson Poetry Analysis

[nick898]

I analyzed this poem for an oral report last year so I'm going to test you guys as I had a lot of trouble finding the meaning to this. I picked the wrong poem! lol Analyze this poem by Emily Dickinson...

Time feels so vast that were it not
For an Eternity-
I fear me this Circumference
Engross my Finity-

To His exclusion, who prepare
By Processes of Size
For the Stupendous Vision
Of His diameters-

This "His" that is mentioned a couple times in the poem is God just so you know. And also (if you didn't know already) when I say analyze I mean what do you think the theme is. What do you think the poem is trying to say?

[mono]

Emily Dickinson never ceases to amaze me. The central themes regarding this particular poem, to me, seem of time and our perception of it, as opposed to someone infinite ("He"). Immanuel Kant considered time one-dimensional, and, therefore, that we can only perceive it linearly and/or in an analytical fashion. An infinite Being, however, having no limits to perception, and also considering that time was once created, theoretically must conceive time holistically. With the common analogy that time operates in a circle, I feel Dickinson refers to our mere ability to perceive time's "circumference," but in no way otherwise; continuing with the analogy, an infinite Being, in opposition, may see time's "circumference," "diameter," radius, tangents, and in more ways a human consciousness may imagine, being, as Dickinson mentioned, finite.
My analysis of the preceding poem may greatly differ from others', and may not prove Dickinson's intention, but it only seems my interpretation. Thank you for sharing the poem, regardless. Good luck!

[char_muse]

I've got a question of my own. It seems in English we have to interpret and present a piece of poetry by Emily Dickinson. We didn't select our poems, but I was informed that mine was one of the teacher's favorites. She said I'd have a good time playing with meanings. So far I'm afraid I've struggled with "Jesus! thy Crucifix" and haven't had much of a good time. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on word significance:

Jesus! thy Crucifix
Enable thee to guess
The smaller size!

Jesus! thy second face
Mind thee in Paradise
Of ours!

As of right now, my analysis is limited. What is giving me the most trouble is how the crucifix would "enable thee to guess the smaller size" and of what. Also, what is "thy second face."

I'd appreciate any feed back on the meaning of the poem.

[mono]

Jesus! thy Crucifix
Enable thee to guess
The smaller size!

Jesus! thy second face
Mind thee in Paradise
Of ours!

Hello, char_muse. I agree that this seems one of Dickinson's most difficult works to understand. In many of her works, she found herself as a poet of few words, obscuring some of the understanding of readers.
Firstly, Dickinson's family considered themselves very pious Calvinists, having a generally authoritarian belief, finding themselves unworthy and "below" in hierarchy compared to Jesus.
"Jesus! thy Crucifix" primarily addresses Jesus, and "Enable thee to guess / The smaller size," I believe, refers to beings other than Jesus seeming lower in spirituality, wisdom, and typically looked down upon, as compared to him. In essence, Dickinson nearly finds the crucifix as a pedestal that separates Jesus from us, "the smaller size."
The second stanza, I think, seems far more complex in the fewest words possible; one reader's interpretation could prove vastly different from another's, so I do not consider mine necessarily elite. "Jesus!" being addressed again now refers to his "second face," which, when Dickinson wrote the subject of the crucifix in the previous stanza, may symbolize Jesus' existence in heaven. The concluding lines, I think, summarize the thought that, when one dies, and finds paradise, Jesus will greet him/her, hence the idea that we also have a "second face" that will exist in heaven/paradise, and Jesus will "mind" or acknowledge when we die (like many of her poems, Dickinson often refers to death, but, in this particular one, indirectly).
Good luck, and I hope this helps.

[byquist]

Thanks Mono for sharing your ideas on Dickinsons' poetry, which takes courage. I am xeroxing it out for future consideration when I get a chance to really re-look at her entire work. She is something special.

[mono]

Thanks Mono for sharing your ideas on Dickinsons' poetry, which takes courage. I am xeroxing it out for future consideration when I get a chance to really re-look at her entire work. She is something special.

Indeed, I could read her poems over-and-over again, saturating my thoughts with her creativity.
I can never forget the first poem I read by her, which I still call one of my favorites:

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labour, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Waaaaay back in junior highschool, students had to choose any poem from a relatively large textbook of poetry of all genres, and write an additional poem that extends from the poem to analyze. Lo and behold, I chose the preceding, being a rather morbid, mysterious adolescent. Ever since, years ago, I purchased a thick book containing much of her poetry and letters, and have read it multiple times.

[byquist]

Mono,

I've long (at least from college; before college I was fairly ignorant, ignorant but happy! -- "Where ignorance is bliss, tis' folly to be wise") known about EmilyD, but about 5 years ago I read that biography that I mentioned somewhere in a Dickinson post. Really saw some things about her personal life and how it overlapped with her poetry. Also, read where Harold Bloom, while teaching a class on her at Yale would get "headaches" because he says she is just so far ahead of us and we are trying to catch up to her. Very respectful and laudable comment coming from a bright man. Byquist

[Prufrock]

I believe that the majority of reader carry an enormous mistake that doesn't let them interpret poetry in a way that you don't understand the author, but you understand yourself as the author that is more important.

To understand Dickinson's poetry -that is strongly influenced by it's historical context- we must put ourselves in a puritan family, missunderstood, lonely and with a eccentric poetic frenzy, or poetic grace (as they call it).

The last poem, very brief as Emily has accustomed us to view her words, precise, succint; in Emily's poetry there isn't one superflous word. Every verse is mathematical, with a perfect longetivity to inmortalized it's sentiment. Now, I agree with mono in many aspects; Jesus' crucifix, as a symbol in churches puts him as a divine being, that will be afterwards resurrected. His crucifix refutes his humanity, as christians have tried to teach for centuries, and confirms his divine nature. That is why Dickinson says: thy Crucifix/Enable thee to guess/The smaller size!.

In the second stanza, Emily shows us Jesus' second face, in this case, the true and pure face. Since, when we reach him, in his postresurrection, he will accept us, as mortals we were.

In summary: The first stanza represents the puritan conception of Jesus, and the second, Emily's conception of what truly Jesus is.

It's the first time I read the poem, and I must confess it was perfectly executed. I would've developed it with an extension impossible to capture such emotions in such few words.

[mono]

No one could have said it better, Prufrock (my compliments on the name, by the way, I love T.S. Eliot).
The empathy in perceiving art, especially poetry, though expressed through words, seems especially difficult to gain without attempting to delve into the poet's mind - "what was Dickinson saying? What was she thinking? And why does she use such often difficult analogies?"
I believe she intended to share none of her poetry, besides the whole four published during her life time, making it all the more intimate, and solely for her to understand. I like to merely consider myself as an admiring witness of a historical beautiful mind.

[Helga]

I am not as wise as mono here above me, and the rest of you so all I can say is how much I admire and love Emily D's work. She writes it so plainly and simply but they are so complex. I didn't know that there is a biography but now I will definetly find it and read it. I only have a collection of her work but I keep it by my bed so I can read a few wise wrods before I go to sleep and when I wake up

[Paula]

Ever since, years ago, I purchased a thick book containing much of her poetry and letters, and have read it multiple times.

Can you please tell me, which book is that? I'd love nothing more right now than to collapse, and lose myself in a book on good ol Emmy D'!

[mono]

Can you please tell me, which book is that? I'd love nothing more right now than to collapse, and lose myself in a book on good ol Emmy D'!

My copy:
Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson. Edited by Robert N. Linscott. Anchor Books/Doubleday. 1959. 343 pages.

Good luck!

[llamankey]

My copy:
Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson. Edited by Robert N. Linscott. Anchor Books/Doubleday. 1959. 343 pages.

Good luck!

Ha! A couple of months ago I was in a bookstore. I bought the Odessy, the Illiad, Pilgrims Progress and Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson. The Odessy and the Illiad, though I know are great classsics, have remained untouched and unread. I only got to about page three of the Pilgim's Progress. However, I have not been able to put Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson down hardly at all. I'm glad to hear that I chose the right book on her. Do you have any suggestions on where I can look for a good biography on her? I would really love to do a paper or two on her in the future.

[mono]

However, I have not been able to put Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson down hardly at all. I'm glad to hear that I chose the right book on her.

Hello, llamankey, welcome to the forum.
Indeed, I have found this one of the best selections of Emily Dickinson's poetry and letters. I felt a little hesitant in reading some of her letters, but found some of them nearly as good as her poetry, amazingly (one could say the same about John Keats also, from a selection of works I have of his). I purchased the book years ago, anyway, and still tend to put aside some time, now and then, to flip through some of my favorite poems and letters.

Do you have any suggestions on where I can look for a good biography on her? I would really love to do a paper or two on her in the future.

I know of none at the moment, but I intend to make a trip to the public library soon anyway (which usually takes hours), and I will take a look. Check back on the forum during the next few days, and hopefully I will have some suggestions.

[mono]

Do you have any suggestions on where I can look for a good biography on her? I would really love to do a paper or two on her in the future.

I apologize for taking so long, llamankey, and hopefully you will still see this message.
I visited a local library and my favorite bookstore (of nearly the same size, if you can imagine), and found the following biography relatively informative, interesting, and significant:

Sewall, Richard B. The Life Of Emily Dickinson. Harvard University Press, 1994. 924 pages.

Happy reading!