Includes manuscript versions of her poems, and a lexicon for definitions from her dictionary. After reading the assigned poems, choose two favorites, and look at the manuscript versions. In lieu of a quiz Wednesday, you should bring in a 1-2 paragraph response about looking the manuscript versions of the specific poems you chose (indicate which poems you looked at). Did it change your impression or experience of the poems at all? How so? If not, why?
I find all of Dickinson’s poems very appealing because they capture intense emotions in a remarkably short amount of lines. I also find her writing style very intriguing as it often forces me to ask myself questions such as, “Why did she add that dash, change her rhyme, or break the cadence of a line?”
After pondering several of her poems in the anthology, I was heavily drawn to think about one in particular. The poem is referred to as, “(657) I dwell in possibility.” After reading it aloud a few times through, I began to analyze it more closely.
The first stanza, “I dwell in Possibility— / A fairer House than Prose— / More numerous of Windows— / Superior—for Doors—” conveys such a strong message. My first thought was simply that, perhaps, she uses her poems as way to express her limitless thoughts. After a more careful analysis—paying careful attention to Dickinson’s background as well as capitalizations and dashes—I was able to take away more from this first stanza. Dickinson is someone who almost never left her home and made every attempt to avoid reticule from others for not conforming. I was encouraged to believe that the first stanza of the poem is expressing how Dickinson felt about the world. I also made the connection from the author’s introduction that she rarely published her work because it was too unconventional.
She is explaining that her realm of possibility is not just in her poetry but also safe from conformities (No wonder she begged those closest to her to burn all of her poems when she died.) You can keep your thought and beliefs limitless by keeping them private. The next two lines, “More numerous of Windows— / Superior—for Doors—” adds to how she views her private poetry in comparison to society and structured works, as there are more windows letting in light (To see things in the light of her own room.)
The next stanza goes on to show the reader that inside your own mind, untainted by others, the sky is the roof to your house. The sky is limitless, and thus possibilities are endless.
The last stanza drives home the message and draws a conclusion to why Dickinson chooses to live her life secluded and without many visitors, “Of Visitors—the fairest / For Occupation—This / The Spreading wide my narrow Hands / To gather Paradise—.” Because of what is mentioned in the previous stanzas, she chooses not to live her life to be condemned by rules, and rather write poetry for herself and allow her to believe everything and anything she wants.
Here is what I believe Emily Dickinson sees out her window when she has poetry to express her thoughts.
I also find that this poem relates to the naturalistic ideas of romanticism poems from William Wordsworth such as, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.” Dickinson uses metaphors relating to the trees and the sky. By the end of the poem, the first image of “Paradise” that came to my head was a beautiful natural landscape.
