First, identify all structural elements: rhyme scheme, stanzas, meter, etc...
Next, blog an answer to the following prompt: How does Dickinson employ structure to help establish meaning?
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Response to "I Died for Beauty"
Please read "I Died for Beauty" by Emily Dickinson - located in your packet. Use as reference "Literary Analysis - Poetry" worksheet, Section "Structure" and "Thinking about Structure on Paper".
First, identify all structural elements: rhyme scheme, stanzas, meter, etc...
Next, blog an answer to the following prompt: How does Dickinson employ structure to help establish meaning?
First, identify all structural elements: rhyme scheme, stanzas, meter, etc...
Next, blog an answer to the following prompt: How does Dickinson employ structure to help establish meaning?
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In her poem "I Died for Beauty," Emily Dickinson describes the story of a martyr for Beauty laid to rest in her tomb. The poem divides into three four-line stanzas, each falling into the form of ballad quatrains: each stanza has a rhyme scheme of 'abcb,' the first and third lines are iambic tetrameter, and the second and fourth are iambic trimeter. The story flows smoothly from stanza to stanza and between the stanzas themselves because of this format. The different but consistent meter of each stanza provides a long-short rhythm, imitating normal speech but still retaining a musical effect. Dickinson also employs numerous dashes to break up that flowing rhythm creating by the structure itself. Together the format of the poem and the interrupting dashes create a beautiful yet disturbing picture of an elegant young woman, martyred for Beauty, speaking with a martyr for Truth. Both have died and so communicate with difficulty, hence the dashes interrupting the flow. At the end, for instance, when speaking of moss reaching their lips in death and covering their names, Dickinson ends the poem with a dash, as if the young woman's speech really was cut off prematurely. The poem's effect as a whole speaks of the impact death has on those it takes. Slowly but surely it steals their voice; as time moves on and people begin to forget, the dead's causes gradually lose their voice as well.
ReplyDeleteYou last three sentences include an excellent analysis. One thing to keep in mind is Ms. Dickinson was personifying beauty. In this instance, it is not a metaphor for a person but, in actuality, beauty itself.
DeleteOverall, excellent!
Emily Dickinson’s “ I Died For Beauty” is a concise lyrical poem that presents the reader with a morbid yet esoteric picture of the ultimate demise faced in death. The structure of the work is relatively simple. Allowing for slant rhyme, Dickinson follows the ABCB rhyme scheme. The work is divided into three stanzas, with each stanza containing four lines. The first and third lines of every stanza use iambic tetrameter, while the second and fourth use iambic trimeter. Dickinson also uses both enjambment and the dash the create flow and pause in a rhythmical fashion. What’s more, she uses each new stanza to introduce and develop a new thesis. The first stanza presents the idea that events occur after physical death. The second stanza introduces true companionship and develops this concept so far as to say that both the characters are one and the same. The third stanza introduces the theme that all things come to an ultimate demise. The speaker is unable to enjoy her new found soul mate because the moss grows over their mouths and eliminates their capacity to speak. The moss also grows over the engraving of their names, eliminating their very essence from the memory of the world. The entire structure supports the meaning of the poem by creating a tone that is ironically both idealistic and morbid throughout the course of the work.
ReplyDeleteVery well done! Analyzing each stanza for variance in subject should always be included in a structure-meaning essay, as you did. Don't forget to analyze the significance of the end rhymes.
DeleteEmily Dickinson’s, “I Died for Beauty,” tells of the meeting of two soul mates shortly before their death. The poem is divided into three stanzas with four lines in each and a rhyme scheme of ABCB. The first and third lines of the poem are iambic tetrameter and the second and fourth lines are iambic trimeter. Dickinson breaks up the flow and musicality by utilizing dashes throughout the poem. These dashes also give the effect that the two soul mates are having trouble with communicating because they have both died and are laid in adjoining graves. In fact, the dash at the end of the poem signifies that the two will never communicate again as the moss covers their lips. Dickinson employs structure to create meaning by varying the ideas presented in each stanza. The first stanza presents the idea that there is something more beyond the physical reality of death. The second stanza describes the woman and man becoming one, as if they were soul mates. Lastly, the third stanza shows that all things must come to an end. The moss covers their lips and their names, erasing all proof of their existence.
ReplyDeleteGood job connecting structure to meaning. You are off just a little in your interpretation. We will discuss the poem in class on Friday.
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