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.