Emily Dickinson’s poems are often described experimental because in her poems she usually writes about simple everyday facts in a very unique and different way. She is often the observer of the poem and she talks about her experiences and how she sees simple things like a bird eating a worm (poem 328) through her eyes. For example in poem 328, there is a bird eating an Angleworm and she describes it in detail using anthropomorphism. She writes “he drank a Dew from a convenient Grass”, which is like a human drinking from a glass. Also, in poem 465 she is describing her death in a very unique way. She talks about what she sees, what she hears (Fly buzz). She uses many of her senses and I think that in lines 13 and 14 she uses her vision and her hearing talking about the buzz and the color of the buzz being blue, to show two other actions which are the moment of her death and her leaving.
She generally uses a formal soft tone something that one of her great inspirations, John Keats, used. Moreover, their poems have a lot of descriptions about nature and beauty and how the two are connected. Another thing that I thing they have in common is that some of their poems appear hopeless. For example, Keats poem “When I have fears that I may cease to be” and Dickinson’s poem 258, are both poems that the writers sound a bit hopeless. In her poem 258, Dickinson seems to have pain and problems that are internal. In line 9 of the same poem she directly writes “ None may teach it-” which is like saying that no one can help her overcome her problems.
Throughout her poems, we can see that she uses a lot of dashes in different times and places and she also capitalizes words, not only the ones that the line started with, for many different reasons. To start with, the dashes usually served as bridges between sections of her poems to show that they are separated. She might have also used the dashes so that the reader pauses when there is a dash or even as a period. She could also use them as a parenthesis to emphasize what she just wrote. Moreover, dashes could serve to indicate interruption or a shift in her thoughts. She also capitalized words to give more emphasis to these words. Another possible version of her use of capitalization could be the fact that she spoke German, which is a language that typically capitalizes nouns.
Seeing her original handwritten versions doesn’t really change my interpretation of the poems but it definitely brings more emotions. You can see even more and feel her words when she wants to emphasize them because you actually see the original ones capitalized.
You made a good view of Emily Dickinson’s writing style and interpretation of her poems. I want to mention and agree is that 328 poem. She did use her simple and different way to show her love of nature. This poem fully illustrate her interest of nature. I seem Emily a romantic writer that she used original nature beauty to relax her heavy mood. I think she looked nature as a change process. Therefore, she used a simple way to write down nature scene in order to show her understanding of nature. Also, in 328 poem “ None may teach it-any-’Tis the Seal Despair- An imperial affliction Sent us of the Air-” describe when writer made touch with birds, they fly away. In my opinion, I think Emily want to show that people’s kind-heart to nature sometimes make opposite effect which is disturb nature’s freedom.
I also agree that Emily Dickinson’s use of dashes, while unconventional, adds a level of pause which makes the reader stop and think about what is important. Furthermore, Dickinson’s extensive use of capitalizing words provides a level of emphasis to the reader which shows which words are key, but not extremely important. Overall Dickinson’s style of writing gives us an insight into who she was as a person. Seeing the original manuscript, which include her dashes and capitalization while taking up an entire page for only a few words leads me to believe she was a simple character who liked to keep things direct and easy to understand. At the same time, she was a very humble individual because she did not want to publish these unconventional poems. For example, Poem 328 shows Dickinson resonating and having an innate connection with the birds, butterflies, and everything else in nature, while simultaneous keeping things simple and to the point. Although unorthodox, the poems are very good in showing her simplistic connection with nature and lively mood.