Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Emily Dickinson-Poem 465 (Group 1)

1. What is your interpretation of the poem? What can you offer in terms of interpretation that can help deepen the understanding of the poem? What continues to confuse you? What do you notice about the use of poetic devices?
2. Comment on a classmate's interpretaion and/or question(s).

10 comments:

  1. This poem is ultimately about death. There are many symbols that would point to this in the poem. The fly we felt stood for an angel coming to take the soul away because she had died. This stillness in the air represented a calm before the storm so it was the period right before she died. When it mentioned the kong, I felt that it symbolized god. When it said " I willed my keepsakes- - signed away what portion of me was assignable" translates to her setting up her will and giving away her possessions. Lastly, I think the last stanza is about how she is heading toward the light and her in between life and death and she doesn't want to see what's before her when she fails to get into heaven. The poetic devIces she uses is there are 4 lines in each stanza and she capitalizes random words in each line.
    Jessica C P6

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  2. I think this poem is about dying. The process of dying, what she imagines it might be like and what you do before hand. when she says "I willed my Keepsakes-Signed away; What portion of me may be; Assignable-" I think she is talking about a will. When she says "And then the Windows failed- and then; I could not see to see-" she seems to be talking about the light fading, or her eyes closing as the life finally leaves her body. When she talks about "The Eyes around-had wrung them dry-" she might be talking about people crying for her and them being "wrung dry" could mean they couldn't cry anymore. When she refers to "the King", I have no idea what she might be talking about, and the fly mentioned throughout the poem seems to have no discernible meaning.

    Gretchen per5

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  3. The poem is about death. The poem uses alliteration in the sounds of the words she uses like buZZ, STillnESS, heaVES, STorm. This method is also used in the repition of the words stillness and fly. This alliteration creats a unique sound patturn when reciting the poem, as do the dashes. The dashes also help me take the poem in correctly; read it how it should be read. The poem is an elegy because of its somber tone, but the author still seems to be accepting at the same time. I think it comes off more as an elegy to me because the topic is death. Jess, i was kind of infatuated with your comment because I would have never connected a fly to an angel. After reading your comment, I was dumbfounded by that because i was completely nieve to that and would have never made that connection like you to. I do not think that the stillness was a symbol, I think that the author was really just trying to portray that feeling and "scene" if you will in the poem. In other words, I could imagine that eery still calm on ones death bed, and Emily does a great job of displaying this in her peom.
    Jackie G3

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  4. I found the poem to be really depressing. However, putting my feelings aside, it is quite interesting and did intrigue me. In our group, we decided that the "stillness" was similar to the calm in the eye of the storm. I felt it was describing how she felt before she died. The peom simply accepts and describes the feelings on ones deathbed. In an odd way it was simple and straighforward ei "I willed my keepsakes- Signed away What portion of me be Assignable." But then at other times it was confusing and frustrating to understand. For example. what is the signifigance of the fly? Is it a messanger of death, or is it an escort into heaven lik ean angel? Or is it simply a fly, that buzzes around the room annoyingly? Gretchen I did like your intereperation of the second stanza. I had no idea what to think, but now I agree with you and believe her to be describing the people around her as she dies. The last stanza I found to be the most intrigueing because of its simplicity and yet its complextity. Obviously, she dies and the Window is probably some sort of gateway. the "uncertain stumbling Buzz" is most likely her mixed feelings about leaving this life. and at the end "i could not see to see" must mean that she dies or she accepts that she dies, but i hadnt understood why she chose those specific words. The act of "seeing to see" perplexes me.

    Also, the way she creates her peoms perplexes me. I understand that the dashes create a rhthym but it makes it difficult to read and break you normal rhthym of reading. I do enjoy how she capitalizes words, it seems to add emphasis and makes certain words more distinguishable. But i don't understand why she breaks lines off where she does.
    Shama p6

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  5. As I kept thinking about the fly maybe symbolizing an angel, I came up with another thing that it could mean. Maybe it is all of the people who she "willed" her keepsakes to, who after they were done crying, just wanted the stuff. Maybe it was the remnants of her life that keeps bringing her back to life when she so wants to leave it.

    Sarah p6

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  6. This poem is about what the narrator felt and saw when she died. The people arund her had been crying and they were holding their breath, anticipating the moment when God would come and take her away.

    Sarah-I didn't think about the fly symbolising an angel. All I thought was that it foreshadowed death (flies usually go with death. flies land on dead things. etc.) But that's really interesting.

    Katrice Kemble
    period 5

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  7. I took me a few reads to understand the poem, but i came to realize that she was describing what she was seeing as she was dieing. She sees everything much more deeply for what it is because she seemed to had taken for granted the simple things in life.

    Connor p5

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  8. The narrator is doubting her religious beliefs whilst on her deathbed. She is hoping to go to heaven however the constant repetition of the fly buzzing foreshadows the inevitable bad outcome as the fly is associated with the devil.

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    Replies
    1. Very good interpretation! I am impressed!!

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