As Imperceptibly as Grief

context and poet's intentions
1. american poet
  1. alot of her friends died young and her bedroom overlooked the cemitary.
    1. these deaths made her question religeon even more
      1. they had a large impact upon her writing
        many of her poems deal with the theme of death.
  2. was influenced by romantic poets.
    1. started writing as a teenager
2. 1830 - 1886
3. father was lawyer, family well off.
  1. her brother and sister encouraged her to read and write.
    1. her sister published the poems after Emily died.
  2. mid 1850's she stayed home to look after her mother
    1. she found it difficult to fit in with the community
      1. she couldn't commit herself to religeon.
4. this poem laments the passing of summer
  1. it suggests summer slips away almost unnoticed leaving us mourning.
    1. images of 'dusk' and 'twilight' link darkness to isolation
      1. however, at the end hope is conveyed as summer is described as 'escaping into the beautiful'.
subjects and themes
1. passing of time.
  1. passing of time is shown by day drawing to a close and the change of seasons
  2. passing of summer linked to grief
    1. she suggests time is gradual and smooth, and that we don't notice the summer lapsing away until it is gone.
  3. death
    1. she became preoccupied with death when some of her friends died. she knew it was inevitable. her religeous doubts left her unsure of heaven
2. changing seasons represent human lives.
  1. summer linked to fullness of life.
  2. autumn is old age
  3. winter is death
3. depression.
  1. warmth of summer = lost happiness.
    1. dusk = darkness of depression
  2. 'even keel' = mental wellbeing
    1. a boat without a keel is reffered to
      1. this implies the boat could tip over or loose balance at any moment.
        the boat is also a symbol of the church so an alternative interpretation would be this meant a loss of faith
      2. lack of balance and direction
key images
1. summer slipping away almost unnoticed.
  1. linked to easing of grief over time, human emotion and loss.
2. twilight represents decline.
  1. afternoon also represents decay and time passing
  2. darkness of dusk represents sadness or dying.
3. nature depicted as a person who spends the afternoon alone, she's lost the company of sun. company of sun could represent the lost relative.
structure and form
1. the form of Dickenson's poems was often changed as her form didn't follow common conventions
  1. this makes it difficult for us to know if they're exactly how she intended
2. she experimented with punctuation
  1. alot of dashes and explanation marks.
    1. dashes show changes in thought? or maybe links and connections between ideas.
    2. maybe dashes note where readers should pause
3. often uses half rhymes. - full rhymes imply harmony so half rhymes could imply a lack of harmony
4. time passing reflected by steady rhythmn.
  1. 8 syllables, then 6 syllables. mirrors the way time moves endlessly onwards.
5. tone flicks between positive and negative
  1. summer is linked to grief in beginning then towards the end it is liked to 'into the beautiful'
  2. this implies life has the ability to bring us positivity and hapiness, as well as negativity and sadness.
literacy techniques
1. personification
  1. nature and summer
    1. both presented as female
      1. mataphoric?
        nature = herself?
        summer = death of a loved one?
2. alliteration
  1. 'dusk drew in'
    1. combined 'd' sounds draw our attention to the dusk.
    2. draws upon themes of finality and death
3. enjembment
  1. 'or nature spending with herself suquested afternoon'
    1. supports rhythmn and is extremely smooth
      1. representative of passing of time.
  2. drawn out across two lines, reflecting long lonely afternoons

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As Imperceptibly as Grief

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	Created by Katie louise about 5 years ago