Throughout Dickenson's works she seems to create an innovative and
original way to utilize punctuations. From the excessive need to end thoughts
with a hyphen to her back and forth use of quotations
around italicized words. Readers are made to wonder why exactly she
felt compelled to use such obscure marks throughout her work.
Like most other writers Dickenson has a personalized voice that she uses
to enhance the message that she is attempting to convey. Her use of punctuation
seems to be part of this. Instead of commas, She seems to enjoy using these
breaking hyphens in both the first and third poems. You can almost imagine her
taking a breath each time she comes to one. I attempted to find some reason in
her use of quotations around certain italicized words, but I just couldn’t seem
to understand. My initial thought was that she was trying to establish a
distinction between certain words and others. Using this technique on the word forgiven seems to give it a condescending
and sarcastic tone, but the other words sparrow,
and Consider do not work as well in
this context.
One great advantage to poetry is the free reign to control the English language however you want, as long as it still can be somewhat understood by the reader. Dickenson surely pushes the extent of that with poems like these.
One great advantage to poetry is the free reign to control the English language however you want, as long as it still can be somewhat understood by the reader. Dickenson surely pushes the extent of that with poems like these.
I definitely think that this is a great point, but for some reason, I enjoyed her punctuation. I thought that it seemed to give me (as the reader) a chance to find a sort of rhythm in her poems. Compared to Whitman's poem we had to read for Tuesday, I think that her poems flowed a little easier in terms of word choice. While her content was not as intriguing to me as Whitman's, I enjoyed the sense of rhythm she wrote with.
ReplyDeleteBrendan, you bring up a good point that the punctuation that Dickinson used gave off a sarcastic tone. That was the first instinct that I got after reading the poem. In addition to the hyphens, I also thought that the italicized words insinuated that she was speaking sarcastically. The quotation marks around words also gave off the same vibe. As for the theme of the poem, I believe that Dickinson wrote it to/for a lover whom she was frustrated with or was in a disagreement with, or maybe a lover that she had recently parted ways with. I think that her use of italicization, hyphens, and quotation marks were meant to be purely sarcastic and to show the reader that she was not at fought for the sins that she allegedly committed, and in effect to tell her lover off and to show that she was not hurt by what had happened. Overall I found the poem to be very self righteous and think that it presented Dickinson as a strong woman.
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