Emily Dickinson's poetry: deceptively simple OR simply deceptive? Why Can't it be Both?

Emily Dickinson's poetry: deceptively simple OR simply deceptive?  This is an excellent question to ask, and, for me, it depends on the poem.  The beauty in the way she writes is simple.  #340 has amazing imagery throughout it.  “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, / And Mourners to and fro / Kept treading - treading - till it seemed / That Sense was break through -“ That line is so rich for me; yet, what does it mean? Is she talking about having a breakdown, or becoming crazy?  Or is she writing about actually dying?  The end of this poem isn’t much better.  “And then a Plank in Reason broke, / and I dropped down, and down - / And hit a World, at every plunge, / And Finished knowing - then -.”  Has the person become completely insane, or are they for real dead now?

A poem that is deceptively simple is number 1108.  The meaning of the poem seems simple enough to understand; yet, if you’ve read any Emily Dickinson, it feels like it shouldn’t be that simple!  In this poem, Dickinson talks about what happens after a funeral.  After a loved one dies, “The Morning after Death / Is solemnest of industries” and that the person is “...Sweeping up the Heart / And putting Love away / We shall not want to use again / Until Eternity –“.  A person, after losing someone, tries to move on with their life.  As harsh as it sounds, Dickinson is saying that in order to do that, the love you felt for the deceased must be put aside, or swept up, until they  meet again in death. 

All in all, Dickinson didn’t just write either deceptively simple or simply deceptive.  She wrote poetry that is easier to understand than others.  If I absolutely had to pick a side, I would say simply deceptive, because try as I might, I can’t understand a lot of her poetry.  In the end though, it all has beautiful qualities to it, and is fun to read.

Whitman Wednesday Blog Post

Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself is, at first glance, a daunting read to attempt.  With 52 strophes of Whitman talking about what feels like everything, it would be easy to throw in the towel.  However, there is beauty in all of the strophes, if you look for it. 

            One strophe I found compelling was number 7.  I believe Whitman could have stopped after the first stanza: “Has any one supposed it lucky to be born? / I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.”  The rest of the stanza only solidifies his point.  He uses certain word stresses to point out the important.  The use of alliteration for “death with the dying” and “birth with the new-wash’d babe” makes the reader sit up and hear that line.  The beauty of life, to experience everything from being a child to loving someone, is because it does not last forever; it ends when we die.  This makes life more beautiful than it would be if we were immortal.

            The other strophe that stood out to me was number 18.  I liked this one because it was about music (hey, I’m a music major!).  I think the idea of celebrating those who lost was beautiful.  In history books, we only glorify the great warriors and heroes, those who make a name for themselves.  The people who die on the battlefield without their names known were just as brave.  The alliteration he repeats in this strophe is “sank in the sea!”  He also rhymes the words “slain” and “gain”, which is a good point to make about the topic he is discussing in this strophe: in order to gain in wars, there will always be those slain.  The last line encompasses it all.  “And the numberless unknown heroes equal to the greatest heroes known!”

            Overall, Whitman speaks about many things in Song of Myself, but each strophe speaks beautifully and eloquently of the topic.  He talks about things that many people don’t, like death being a good thing, and celebrating the unknown soldiers.  These strophes in particular stood out to me, and made me smile.