Monday, March 12, 2012

Dickinson's Richest Word

In the poem which I had analyzed line by line last week, I believe the word "soul" is the most important.  Dickinson is writing about weather a soul (be that an individual or a literal spirit) chooses to allow other entities to associate with itself.  The word appears all capitalized at the beginning of the poem which strongly indicates its importance to the piece.  The soul is referred to as "her" throughout the poem and personified through figuratively shutting a door and noticing a chariot approaching a gate belonging to her as well.  Each time "she" is referred to, Dickinson is referring to the SOUL, but weather this is a person, mere idea, or divine figure is anyone's guess.

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