Ok. I actually wasn't put off at all by the huge words but, literally, without a dictionary I would NOT have gotten through "Alabaster Chambers." Wowie. But, it was well worth the effort (which was, in general, not a lot at all...). I really, REALLY thought that "Safe in their Alabaster chambers" was absolutely beautiful. Although Dickinson writes about death which is actually a very sad subject, she does it is such a beautiful way, in my opinion. I dunno if I can say I have a favourite line but, I really htink that the line, "Diadems drop and Doges surrender, Soundless as dots on a disk of snow." is perferct. Perfect. The way she recalls those past figures and illustrates that they have become somewhat unnoticed now is absolutely beautiful. I know it's sad but it makes me smile because it's so well-worded.
I also really enjoyed the poem "The name - of it- is 'Autumn'-" I thought that was really perfect. Ok. I basically felt that way about them all. But, I think this one really does is well-done because, although it is graphic ("And Oh, the Shower of Stain - When Winds - upset the Basin - And spill the Scarlet Rain-" for instance. Picture that.) it still manages to be quite lovely because of her word choice, I think. I dunno. It just seems like even though she is comparing autumn to a bleeding thing, she keeps it eloquent with words like "Shower" and "sprinkles" and "bonnets" and "Rose". Maybe that's easy to do but I just think it shows how much time she did spend on it.
In the past, I was really not a fan of poetry... like at all. But, in my junior year (I think) I started to get into it and it was an Emily Dickinson poem we read. So that's cute. But, the point of that is, I think that Emily Dickinson really captures poetry in what it should be: Beautiful and expressive... and that turned me on to the rest of it!
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I have to agree with Paige about the fact that “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” was hard to understand without a dictionary. I, too, was thankful for dictionary.com. However, despite the fact that it took a lot of effort to comprehend, I really enjoyed the poem. I also found this poem to be very beautiful. Her descriptions like “Light laughs” and the “sweet birds” give such peace to the reader. Dickinson’s use of alliteration (“Babbles the bee”) was also key in shaping the beautiful imagery and descriptions. I especially liked the last stanza of the poem where Dickinson talks about time elapsing in a subtle and quiet way. Though time passing, is an inevitable part of life, she seems to show it in a positive and serene light.
ReplyDeleteIf I am tardy in posting a blog response, it is because I too am bewildered and intimidated by Emily Dickinson's word choice and apparent ambiguity. From our class explication, I see that she used very specific allusions and kept very consistent to a theme of Antietam. My independent reading created very incredible images: can you see "great globules in the alley" walking around and making bloody stains?? I guess it is hard to be a poet or to read a poetry knowing that unless we have an excellent english class or access to the context it was written in, we may never appreciate some poetry. I think if I ever write poetry, I will include at least a paragraph of background to be read afterward, or maybe be alive when it is published.
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