Journal #41: Emily Dikinson

Emily Dickinson was another poet, similar to Walt Whitman, who falls into the time period between Romanticism and Modernism. During her lifetime, she went into exile in her own house. Some people believe this is because of a traumatic love experience. She became heart broken and because of her embarrassment and brokenness, she locked herself in her house and wrote poetry the rest of her life, but she never came out. One of her poems in her book of poetry, Part One: Life, explains this feeling of being exiled, of being trapped in her house, by herself. This poem, "I never hear the word 'escape,'" also known as poem number thirty six discusses in a metaphor that feeling of being trapped that I am sure Emily Dickinson felt. Let us analyze this poem.

"I NEVER hear the word “escape”
Without a quicker blood,
A sudden expectation,
A flying attitude.

I never hear of prisons broad
By soldiers battered down,
But I tug childish at my bars,—
Only to fail again" (Dickinson)!

This poem is in reference to Emily Dickinson's feelings of her life, in my opinion. She was kept in isolation in her house, and this describes how she felt about this. The first stanza translates to "I never hear the word 'escape' without being excited, without suddenly wanting to break free." In my interpretation of this, Emily is in prison, but not in a regular criminal prison. She is in her own prison, herself, her isolation. She wishes to escape this prison, as said in the first stanza. When one is in prison, naturally escape sounds good, exciting, and a great idea, because no one enjoys or should enjoy being locked away in prison. However, in the second stanza she describes how she childishly tugs at her bars but still fails. A child is very small and weak, and would not be able to break from prison by pulling at the bars. They would still be stuck. Using this analogy, Dickinson says that she tries to escape, but she continues to fail time and time again. Overall, Emily Dickinson says that though she wishes to escape she is unable to escape her isolation.

Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. "I Never Hear the Word 'escape'" Bartleby.com. Bartleby.com, 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.