The poem I chose to write a response to was Emily Dickinson’s Wild nights – Wild nights! Right off the bat, the titled caught my attention by making me question two things. One, why does she repeat wild nights? And two, why does she scream those words? Interestingly, she says the title in the first line which presumes that these “wild nights” are the main focus of the poem. I get two images from the first line to represent the “wild nights”. It can either be a scene of a place inhabited by only wild life at night or a scene of people partying at night. Reading thru the rest of the first stanza I believe she regrets not having been with or at “wild nights”. Also, she goes on saying that “wild nights” should be a luxury making me believe that it is something we all have but we do not treasure it.

The second stanza, I believe she is describing her feelings of affection for something or someone. The winds she describes are obstacles that are futile to literally, her heart. Saying she’s done with the compass and chart means she does not want to follow the rules or roles in her life but to follow her own feelings.

In the last stanza, I believe she is referring to herself being in the unknown since she threw away the things in her life that tied her down. The place where she wants to be she is there for only that night.