A Bird Came Down the Walk - Exam Response

Here is a link to an actual examination response on A Bird Came Down the Walk from a student who went on to achieve an A* at A2.

This is a good example of how to handle a tricky question.

My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun - Example Essay

            “None stir the second time –

            On whom I lay a Yellow Eye –

            Or an emphatic Thumb – “

Discuss ways in which Dickinson uses setting in ‘My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun’.

Setting is important to the work of Dickinson. We see this in the poem ‘The last Night that She lived’ where “Her final Room” is representation of her grave being a house and so bringing comfort despite her forthcoming entrapment. Setting is also seen in the poem ‘Because I could not stop for Death’, here the “swelling of the ground” conveys the earth dug out from her grave to entail her to rebirth instead of death. However, it is in ‘My life had stood – a Loaded Gun’ that we see the most clear depiction of setting in Dickinson’s work. The poem explores how the speaker becomes a faithful hound to their “Master” in a bid to die, despite the inability to escape.

In ‘My life had stood – a Loaded Gun’ the central symbol is the “Yellow Eye” which represents the spark of the gun as it is fired; it could also be seen that the light is representative of the end of life, despite this being impossible for the speaker who is without “the power to die”. The reference of volcanoes conveys the erupting pleasures as the “cordial light” goes off. This light, likewise to the “Yellow Eye”, portrays the gun firing, and the oxymoronic use of “cordial” explores the pain as being someone else’s, most likely the pain suffered by women. Setting is also linked to death is ‘Because I could not stop for Death’, here the “carriage” picks up the speaker and brings joy at the forthcoming prospect of death; death becomes a desire and medicine to the speaker’s depression. ‘My life had stood – a Loaded Gun’ conveys male power through the use of setting; the “Mountains straight reply” which is representation of a quick response as the speaker takes on a male form and gains importance.

The poetry in ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ becomes affected by the “light” and therefore has a damaging effect. Despite the damage, there is a constant iambic tetrametre and trimetre in a bid to provide comfort from the light. ‘My life had stood – a Loaded Gun’ likewise features iambic tetrametre and trimetre to restrict the speaker, however restrictions are released through the hyphens. Hyphens are used to explore the tension that is exploding as the gun is fired. Once the firing is over, the hyphens are representative of a calming breathing, going in and out, to provide control over frustration. Hyphens are the key structural technique throughout the poem, and so as well as portraying control and explored tension; they are also representative of an incomplete thought. The reader gets the sense that something is missing or being hidden, this may well be hidden fear as the speaker comes to face the phallic “Master” killing the yonic, a incomplete power battle, as ultimately the woman holds the gun.

‘My life had stood – a Loaded Gun’ features the detachment of body parts, possibly in a bid to avoid fear taking over the speaker’s entire body. An “emphatic Thumb”, the trigger pulled by an unknown thumb despite the knowledge that the speaker fired, causes the gun’s spark. Body parts are also illustrated through the “Loaded Gun” which is phallic imagery; the deification emphasises the potential for rage, danger and destruction, and the gun being ready to fire and destroy live. The theme of death runs throughout Dickinson’s poetry and can be seen in ‘The last Night that She lived’, where death brings comfort and takes the speaker home. The speaker describes themselves as a “Reed” bending to the Water to die, however like the speaker in ‘My life had stood – a Loaded Gun’ she is unable to die and instead will live a life of immortality. The speaker of ‘My life had stood – a Loaded Gun’ closes the poem with the upset of having the “power to kill” but not die, which is her ultimate desire, so we see the destruction of female hopes through male dominance and her loyalty to allow him to die in her place, “He longer must – than I”.

Ultimately, setting is crucial to the work of Dickinson. We see throughout her poems that death is a prominent setting and provides an end to the speaker’s depression, however, it is likely that the speaker is unable to die in every one of Dickinson’s poems and instead face “Immortality”. In the poem ‘My life had stood – a Loaded Gun’, the setting is ultimately one of male dominance, in which females have the ability to kill, as desired by men, but not meet their own ambitions of dying. 

Going to Him! Happy Letter - Example Essay

Discuss ways in which Dickinson uses personification in “Going to Him’

One of the recurring images in Dickinson’s collection is that of the personification of inanimate objects, and the separation of body parts from her and how they have grown there own independent features. This is shown in poems such as; “What mystery pervades as well,” were we see the snake shown as a “narrow fellow”, which could be seen as a representation of a phallic image, which could further portray Dickinson’s fear of being entrapped by men, and her inexperience where men are concerned. It is also shown in “I heard a fly buzz,” we see how she portrays the fly as a symbol of the Devil and how he is coming to get her, “I heard a fly buzz- when I died-“ in this poem we see how she fears the fly stealing her away when really she has no place in hell, and how God is unforgiving and does not wish to fight against the fly to prevent him taking her. One of the most prominent uses of personification is that of “eyes” and how they are constantly watching and judging her, an example of this is in “Going to Him! Happy Letter!” in which we see how the eyes within the letter start to judge her and threaten to tell the gentleman that Dickinson is sending the letter to how inexperienced she is, “You guessed—from the way the sentence toiled—“ This is an indication of her constant paranoia and again shows her fear of rejection by society and also individuals. 

In the poem “Going to Him! Happy Letter!” the main use of personification is the letter as being happy. We see how Dickinson, at the start of her letter, is very joyful and is excited about finally being able to write a love letter to the man that she loves, and we see how her happiness is then passed through to the letter and how the inanimate piece of paper is feeling, “Happy Letter!” In the eyes of Dickinson the piece of paper is less of a piece of paper but more a messenger that will recite the message to the man when, and if, it is received. This is why we see that she has a rather deep and almost friendship like relationship with this piece of paper. “And you—got sleepy—and begged to be ended—“ this also most brings that back to a teenage or child like state, as if they are having a sleepover and have been telling secrets, which is the contents of the letter, and then one has become to tired and had “begged” to go to sleep. This relationship is a contrast to the other relationships that are present in her other poems, an example of this would be in “The last Night that She lived,” in which we see how she feels more jealousy than sorrow at the loss of her friend. We see how she wishes that she was the one to die, but as we see in all her previous poems she is unable to die even though it is her main wish in life. “While She must finish quite/ A Jealousy for Her arose” this could be seen as another indication that she fears the rejection of others and so she seeks relations with items that can not refuse her friendship, which takes from in this poem as the paper.

Nonetheless, we also see how the letter goes from being her friend to just another set of eyes that are there to watch and criticize her every move. “And then you wished you had eyes in your page—“ As we can see from her other poems, “eyes” bring nothing but panic and fear as she does not like to be belittled by others. Also the use of detachment, rather than it being people watching her it is simply their eyes, this shows that she had no emotional connection and cannot connect with the person in anyway. This also makes the image more intimidating for her, as if there is not way that she can escape the eyes and there is no compaction from the heart of the person, as there is non. It also makes the idea of being watched eerier, eyes are meant to be the window to the soul and these “eyes” clearly have no soul and so could be a reference to them as almost demon like with more soul or compaction. This image of the ‘eyes’ is also shown in “I heard a fly buzz” in which rather that having a room of mourners as she passes away, we see how they are just eyes, “They Eyes around” Once more we see how the eyes bring her distress, and that she has no emotional connection with them they are simply there. It also says that the eyes “ha wrung them dry—“ showing that the eyes are no longer crying, this could have two different meanings; one the ‘eyes’ in the room know that this is what she wanted, that she has always wanted to die and to move on to the next life, or secondly it could mean that they feel no compaction towards her, they will no miss her and are happy that she has gone and will no longer darken their days.

The poem is written in a trochaic meter, which contrast to her other poems, which are written in tetra and tri meter, which leads to the poem having the feeling that it is missing something. We also see another comparison in this poem, in this poem we see how she is feeling strong and overwhelming amounts of emotion of joy and love. Instead of speeding up due to the overriding sense of joy, which is what we commonly see her doing in her other poems, we see how the joy causes her to slow down, and to taking a breath and her time when delivering her message to the “Happy letter!” Her excitement is also shown in the use of anaphora, with the reputation of “Tell him” which indicates her rising excitement and how she is also most becoming breathless at the thought of all the things she wants to tell him, “Tell him the page I did n’t write;” This again could show how she has been fully consumed by the emotion of love that she is feeling towards him. Also on the line “So you could see what moved them so.” the repetition of “so” gives the line a palindromic quality, giving the line a cyclic quality so she will always end up where she started meaning that she will never have the confidence to be able to send the letter, “Tell him just how she sealed you, cautious,”

In conclusion we can see how Dickinson using personification to bring across to the reader her fear of being judged and her constant paranoia that everything, even inanimate objects are watching and passing judgment upon her. We also see with the use of personification the close relationships that she has with her positions, her relationship with the letter is not like a friendship than her simple writing a letter, and this then highlights her inability to have any form of relations with other people as she has the constant fear of being rejected and neglected.

Because I Could Not Stop For Death - Notes

The exemplification of time as an element is represented in a paradoxical circumstance – for time is hurried and yet restricts its pace concurrently. Through the poet’s insanity, time has developed into that which is but a mere non-existent concept– time has been shed of its original purpose, which was once to regulate her life. Time has been distorted through the speaker’s enjoyment in death – it no longer follows the conventional understanding of time that we comprehend; en route to her grave, time rushes beyond what she is accustomed to in life and she finally immerses herself in indulgence – her last day of life is too slow which is all too ironic. Reflecting on carriage journey – cannot define time, non specific, after death , time stops, describes abstract beyond our recognition – mankind does not experience such courses of events and thus time loses its association with the speaker as life has become the past. Death is a deliverance to her, when alive – time slaughters her diminishing soul, time reluctant to pass – when death finally stops, time freezes – parallel world whereby emotions do not reign her existence.

SYMBOLS

Throughout journey – many symbols emerge –, immortality, ‘recess’ ‘slowly drove’ ‘no haste’ – though time does not exist however the speaker’s mentality has lingered amongst the living cosmos - time reminds us of our being, her heart still holds aspirations in the world.

‘He knew no haste’ – death cannot feel this need to attain her demise

Being alive was a form of suffering, reminisce past of work ‘grain’ ‘setting sun’ , once felt that such events were painstaking however the carriage journey provokes an abrupt acknowledgement that the course of these events could be reviewed as but a brief cloud of smoke that approaches and then dissipates into nothing.

‘feels shorter than a day’ – reiterates that her enjoyment outweighs the suffering she once felt

Dickinson: ‘forever is composed of nows’ – from the poet’s perspective – being alive is not life or death, after death, time itself suspends, no tension pulling her existence into a dark void, she is only the souls that remains  – that which is the eternity she yearns for.

In ‘After great pain, a formal feeling comes’ – ‘yesterday – or centuries before’ – juxtaposed due to their likeness, no difference ; lost sense of time, not sure when Christ died – ‘feels like one day’ – no sense of reason or judgement

‘first chill then stuper then the letting go’ imagery of hypothermia = freezing to death, speaker wants this death – ‘I could not stop for death’ – time frozen

wants to freeze to death – but why want death – because time is death – and once dead – time has frozen and thus freeze to death

she desires death that which is insinuated by the freezing of hypothermia – death is what she wishes to attain and time embodies death, in death, she thus reaches her desired numb senses through the suspension of time/death

STRUCTURE

Iambic tetrameter and trimeter – mirrors the rhythm of their movement, also shows the extension of time, speaker is semi-conscious of the fact that time has

ceased to exist and thereby chooses to continue the illusion of time being present still.

Solidity of rhyme – pararhyme such as ‘me’ ‘immortality’ – ‘away’ ‘civility’ , demonstrates her calm state, harmonious atmosphere, or solidity is what she seeks – invariably soothes her inner chaos

When reflecting upon childhood and ‘grain’ – never indulged in such supposedly inevitable stages in life – all of a sudden, aware of the fact that she lived a meaningless life - lost control in speech, even rhyming patter thus disrupted and no rhyme at all… ‘rain’ ‘sun’ , After there is solid rhyme ‘chill’ ‘tulle” ‘ground’ ‘mound’ – bipolar, fluctuating emotions.

Never experienced things of merriment that institute the evidence of one’s existence – lapse of time is this gap in her life

‘a narrow fellow in the grass’ When looking for safety and control, rhyming represents her attempt to overcome her emotions ‘corn’ ‘morn’ ‘sun’ ‘gone’ – in times of anxiety and fear, we witness the surfacing of instability in her rhyme – it collapses and disintegrates into nothing. ‘rides’ ‘is’  and shivers with ‘zero at the bone’

Atmosphere is tranquil in nature – observing the snake but ‘whip lash’ ‘tighter breathing’ – although no specific time phrases used ‘stooping’ ‘gone’ the impulsive strain and tension of the moment stimulated by the snake is demonstrated

OTHER

Anaphora – ‘we passed’; the repetition of the past tense here, reiterates that the speaker does not have the capacity to recapture these moments/ life experiences. Her anxious tone in speech realizes that she is able to list her life’s regrets with ease and their vast number, they pass by one after the other. Time can be equated to death in the respect that the speaker may never control it to appease her desires.

Personified death as a ‘gentleman’ – time is an abstract form of death, induces pain, time slaughters her in life and in death, death has become the cessation of time and time has subsequently transformed into gentlemen – she is under the shield of eternity – immortal, perpetual

‘My life had stood a loaded gun’ – in contrast to the personification of death, she dehumanizes herself to become a gun… ‘for I have but the power to kill but without the power to die’ - entrapped in her own world and inability to escape forever in some ways are also means of perpetual torment in the deprivation of emotions. 

Because I Could Not Stop For Death - Example Essay #1

Discuss ways in which Dickinson presents time in “Because I could not stop for death”

Throughout the various poems in Emily Dickinson’s collection we can see the constant reference to time and the different effects that the length of time has one her. We can see how the pain that is present in her life causes time to become elongated.  An example of this would be in; “I heard a fly buzz” we see how Dickinson become breathless as she wishes for time to speed up and for God to save her from the “fly”, and then it is shown again in; “After great pain, a formal feeling comes-“ in which we see that it is simply only a matter of time before the pain comes again, we see her struggle to break the cycle and to stop time catching up with her. However, the poem that most effectively presents time is in, “Because I could not stop for Death.” We can see how when she is in the company of death she does not wish for the time to speed away but instead we see that she wishes for him to take his time, “We slowly drove- -He knew no haste.”

In the poem; “I could not stop for Death” we are shown the figure of death as a man on horse back coming to collect Dickinson’s in a carriage before he carries her off to death. In this poem the idea of the pain of her life elongating time is really prominent. We are given the image that “Since then—‘tis Centuries—and yet/ Feels shorter than they Day.” This highlights that the centuries that she have been death feel shorter that the one of the days that she spent waiting for death to arrive. This again illustrates the extension of time and the increase of the pain that she feels as time goes on. We see how she does not wish for him to rush, she wants to take in the sights of her last day alive, which is different to many of her other poems as we generally see how she is impatient in waiting for death and how she longs for him to hurry to her. We see how they “passed the School; where Children strove” and then also they “passed the Fields of grazing Grain,” these are younger items, and then the poem progresses to “the setting sun,” which indicates the end, the sun going down, darkness will be closing in and the day is almost over. This could be interpreted as the circle of life, if the day was split into sections of life, we see how at they start of their journey the see the young ones, whose’ lives have just began, to as the day comes to a close we see how she is nearing death, her life comes to an end just as the day does. 

We can also see how her death is not as instant as the figure of death arriving, we see how they take a long, even romantic, ride in his carriage where they see that various different things of natural beauty, but we see how she is not concerned at the fact that she is not dying immediately, she is willing to spend time with death. This gives us the impression that death is like a gentleman caller that comes to visit her and take her on long carriage rides in the countryside. She longs for everything else to speed up, but now that she has death within her sights she is willing to wait and allow him to take his time. This then contrasts with the poem; “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died-“ in this poem we see how she is desperate for God to hurry and take her away to death, because she fears that the “Fly”, who represents the devil will take her away to hell. We see her panic in this poem by the enjambment between the lines, which not only gives us the image of Dickinson being breathless, but also if the poem is read allowed, the reader becomes breathless too, again reflecting her feelings through to the reader.

The structure of the poem is set out with an iambic tetra and trimeter, which for the reader give the effect of ‘did-dum’, when they are reading, this reflects the image of death being in the carriage and the meter gives the effect of the horses hooves. There is also no solid rhyme within this poem, only Para rhyme, which gives the poems the feeling that it is missing something that the rhyme is meant to be there but she is just unable to rhyme. This could be for many reasons, she is excited by the throughout death so is so caught up with the story of this that she is able to rhyme, or that she fears that even though she will have what she has always wanted, the freedom of death, will she end up in heaven or hell and this is what she fears more that anything. The fear of being stuck forever in darkness is also show in “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died-“, in which we see her fear of the fly capturing her, “I could not see to see-“, she fears living in the endless darkness. We also see that the us of tetra and tri, again makes the lines look as if they are missing something, the use of one short sentence followed by one long, cuts the reader short and makes the poem feel awkward to read allowed, which could reflect the awkward nature of her life.

Behind Me - Dips Eternity - Example Essay

Discuss the ways in which time is explored in ‘Behind Me – dips Eternity’

Time is important to the work of Dickinson. We see this in the poem ‘I heard a Fly buzz’ where the speaker speeds up time and therefore allows themselves to be prevented from reaching the “King”, a representation of heaven. Time is also seen in the poem ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ where the time of days affects the light which in turn damages her soul and creates an “internal difference”. However, it is in ‘Behind Me – dips Eternity’ that we see the most clear depiction of time in Dickinson’s work. The poem explores how the speaker feels despair at the past, present and future, and there is no hope for escape from “Immortality”.

In ‘Behind Me – dips Eternity’ the central symbol is the “maelstrom in the sky” which reflects the speaker’s constant existence within a storm, and how, despite the forces of time, she remains inside the storm with a bleak future and no hope. The speaker is effectively trapped in time as her past gave her “Eternity” and her future presents her with “Immortality” and so she is forced to accept capture between the two, and escape becomes a distant ambition. The speaker builds a hatred for life as an end is not in sight, particularly when she describes herself as a “Crescent in the Sea”, this conveys her lost sense of hope as she realise there is no way forward in this life and she is merely a boat drifting in the sea to no destination. Times constant presences lead to the speaker’s depression, as darkness too becomes a companion constantly at her side as “midnight” takes over and further emphasises her depressive emotions. In contrast, the speaker ‘This world is not Conclusion’ feels despair for the present but is hopeful for the future as it looks less bleak. The speaker accepts the tooth that “nibbles at the soul”, a metaphor for the problems we face in life, but despite this she remains positive for the future as this is the way to escape her soul’s ache. The speaker accepts that the next stage in her life will not be a heaven but there is more to life than what we previously believe, and ultimately time will guide us.

‘Behind Me – dips Eternity’ is built around hyphens that emphasise chaos, however the hyphens also slow down the poem and so make it thoughtful in contrast to the despair the speaker feels; and so the slowing down of the poem elongates the time in which any sight of an end is available to the speaker. The hyphens are also used to restrict the speaker and therefore capture her in amongst time; “the term between” is captured by hyphens and is reflective of times nature in entrapping the speaker between eternity and immortality. Their use at the ends of lines also highlights that time is the only future prospect. Alliteration is used in a mocking way as it slows down the words being spoken, yet these words give hope of a new beginning; “Dissolving into Dawn” is elongated to present a calming atmosphere, yet the speaker is given false hope of a new beginning and start. The speaker reflects on the things she missed out on in life in ‘Because I could not stop for Death’ and feels sorrow of not having “children” and a lover, which lead to the absence of pararhyme. She also reflects on how the “ring” the children play in reflects her unbroken cycle of life and “immortality” which is further emphasised through the use of anaphora.

The speaker mocks the religious idea of there being a heaven in ‘Behind Me – dips Eternity’ as no such “miracle” will happen to her. She repeats “miracle” to mock its reliability and existence in reality, which the speaker doubts due to the “Immortality” she suffers. However her sarcasm can also be seen to reflect her jealously of there being a better world after death which she will never experience; “Son of None” suggests that the speaker has lost hope of God saving her away from the “Maelstrom” she finds herself continually stuck in. She also feels envy of the “Kingdom” that she will never reach, despite her mocking attitude implying a lack of religious values. In ‘After great pain a formal feeling comes’ the speaker describes the stages of their headache, the “great pain”. The speaker is similar to that of ‘Behind Me – dips Eternity’ in which an end to the pain is desired but unlikely, as the pain continues to go “round”, and for both death is the only way to escape the suffering yet neither can die or “[let] go”.

Ultimately, time is important to Dickinson’s work. When the light “comes” in ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ the speaker conveys the sense of destruction and fear as the time comes for the light to cause doom. Time is portrayed in ‘I heard a Fly buzz’ where the speaker ends up in the darkness of hell that has no end to time. However, ‘Behind Me – dips Eternity’ has the most evident use of time as the speaker is entrapped within the boundaries of time and the prospect of both “Eternity” and “Immortality”.

I heard a Fly Buzz - Example Essay #2

“And then the windows failed, and then I could not see to see”

How does Dickinson display fear in this poem and elsewhere in her poetry?

Without question on of the main recurring images throughout Dickinson’s poetry is that of fear. We can see this in many of her poems and we see how it takes different forms and how she fears various aspects of life and death. An example of this would be in “It was not death for I stood up,” where we see her fear being “shaven and fitted to a frame,” and again in “There’s a certain slant of light,” with the line, “Heavenly hurt it gives us;” Both of these illustrate the constant fear that is being inflicted upon Dickinson, but the most effective example of fear in her poems is in “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died-“ Throughout this poem we see how the fear that she is feeling is all consuming, and we see predominantly how she fears the coldness of others and how quick they are to judge and change their minds with other giving her a second thought.

The key recurring symbol that seems to impose the most fear into her is the image of the fly, “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” The fly could represent two things, it could either be that she fears that the fly will begin the decomposition of her body after her death or that the image of the fly is typically connected with the image of Beelzebub and Satan. She fears that rather than being able to have peace in her after life in heaven she will be taken away with the fly and have to continue her days in darkness, “I could not see to see-“ and this fear is the one the drives the fear for the rest of the poem. “There interposed a Fly-“ The other things that creates fear within her is the image of the fly accidently taking her way, “With Blue- uncertain stumbling Buzz-“ this represents that the fly is even uncertain is she should go to hell, and portrays the even as unintentional and this is what she fears, she fears being wrongly taken to hell even though she may not deserve it. She also fears the cold nature of God, he is willing to allow something as small as a fly to stop her from being allowed into heaven, “Between the light-and me-“ this shows that you only have one change to get into heaven and that God is not willing to give you a second chance, this again shows that even a figure that many consider as being forgiving and loving, is cold towards her, showing that she has no connection with anyone.

“The Eyes around- had wrung them dry-“ From this we can see all the ‘people’ who have come to visit Dickinson after she has died, but we can see how they are only portrayed as eyes, this indicated that they is no emotional connection between her and her family and friends, and also the fact that they have stopped crying could be an indication that they are happy that she has died as she was more of a burden on their lives. But the use of eyes also illustrates her fear of being watched and judged by others around her, we can see how she is constantly parodied that people are watching her and what they think of her. “What portions of me be/ assigned”, this is a real contrast with the image of the eyes, showing that she feels a deeper and more meaning full connection with her belonging that she does with her family, but we can also see that she fears signing away herself to others, she does it with a large amount of reluctance and the use of formal language could show that she feels that the others are not worth of part of her.

Unlike many of her other poems the structure and use of literary techniques, such as capital letters and punctuation, is incorrect in this poem, as a reader we can believe that this has been purposely inserted to indicate her rising fear and distress, “Was like the Stillness in the Air-“ The breakdown of standard English demonstrates that the fear is causing her to think unreasonable and the fear is so great that she is not concerned with her punctuation. The use of tetra and tri on her line structure makes the lines not flow and has an awkward feel for the reader, creating an image of a broken woman, who is lost within the world. It also makes the line feel as if it is missing something, this again makes Dickinson appear to missing something and that her life is wrong to her, nothing is able to flow. The use of enjambment again makes the poem awkward to read out loud as the reader is unable to take a breath, but this reflects the breathless nature of Dickinson and also makes it clear to the reader how the poem is almost like her chain of thought. It also illustrates her longing for God to hurry up, “What portions of me be/ assignable- and then it was” the us of not punctuation allows the line to flow and be spoken with a quicker pace, and indication of her longing to get into heaven before the “fly” is able to grab her and take her to hell.