Well, I'd love to say that I've understood all these poems after reading them three times and I ready to add some insightful commentary. I'd love to say that, but I can't. These poems are tough and I am grappling (like many of the rest of you I assume) with mere interpretation.
The 'Autumn' poem is particularly tough. Dickinson describes a scene that takes place after 'winds - upset the Basin - And spill the scarlet rain'. The scarlet rain, taken to be blood, is the main imagery in the poem. The blood flows everywhere, and is seemingly all encompassing until it flows away 'upon Vermilion Wheels'. I took Dickinson's 'winds' to be representative of the passions and conflicts of of men, in this case, the civil war. By stating that is is the winds that 'upset the basin' and bring the blood, Dickinson using natural imagery implies that this is a conflict that was inevitable. The later description of how the blood leaves so unceremoniously seems to indicate that to little attention is being paid to the actual lives that are being lost.
Poem 444 also seems to focus on the civil war and the price of human life. Dickinson uses imagery here to portray that we as a country are selling our soldiers lives for liberty. She accomplishes this through her repeated use of money imagery. She then tries to reconcile if the price we are paying is worth the cost.
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I also was extremely intrigued by the possible interpretations of her work, from the structure to word choices, Dickinson weaves a multi-layered web. Perhaps most fascinating for me, especially after our class discussion on Thursday, was “The name – of it – is ‘Autumn.’” This poem is incredible in the depth it holds as a allegory of war as well as a bloody rendition of the 3rd season. I was also very fascinated by the circle imagery that is present in this poem. The “vermilion wheels,” the rose, the pools and even the artery and vein system are all cycles or circles of some sort and I think that this idea of infinite circles mirrors the cycle of life and death, and the seeming eternity of war. I guess I am still blown away by the many layers you can dig from a single word within this poem.
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