The following is an email exchange that I thought might help others working with Emily Dickinson
Hi !
How are you ?!
I wanna ask you something.. I know you have much more experience with American literature then I do 
)) and also in poetry. I’m writing an essay for my literature class and my goal is to analyze, interpret the poem “My life stood- a Loaded Gun” by Emily Dickinson. I’ve been trying to do it all day today..but it makes no sense to me..
I think she(Emily) was a psycho-weirdo-alien to write such stuff (LOL) or I just don’t get the meaning )
I’m reading all the critics writings about this poem, and everyone tells a different story. One says she was writing about her lover, another – that it was about her relationship with God, then maybe it was about her father etc… I think, by “He/ owner/Master” she meant a men’s world or society she lived in, and she-is a gun , an aggressive, powerful, not feminine and inhuman – was made like that by her world/society.
Can you please take a look at this poem and help me to analyze it..I’m
freaking out by this poem ))) I’m clarifying every word, looking in all dictionaries, but it is way TOO DEEP for my realistic mind
Thanks !Myah !
——————–response email————————
Hi,
LOL – (psycho-weirdo-alien)
Absolutely, here you are, let me know if you have any questions.
In summary, my interpretation of the poem is that it is about being a woman in a closed society and that there are religious overtones throughout the poem, as though religion and God are placing pressure on her. (I actually think it is about sex but that might be too radical for class)
There is no right or wrong when interpreting a poem, but especially a poet like Emily Dickinson. She does not write to explain or to hide an inner meaning, she writes to express her emotions pure and simple as she can. Since we are each grounded a little differently in emotion, the same poem can mean very different things to different people.
To understand her poetry, the reader must know something about Emily.
- She grew up and lived during the “Romantic Period” in the 1800s a period where art was based on emotion, much more so than the Classical Period
- She also lived during the Victorian Era, where women were shackled to their pedestals, most women had to be married by the time they were 18, they were not allowed to vote, women of Emily’s status could not earn money and society was very linear, meaning anyone who strayed out of their box paid a heavy price.
- Emily herself grew up and lived in Massachusetts, at the time, probably one of the most religious, morally upright and independent sections of the United States, this is the part of the U.S. where abolition rose up.
- Emily rarely published her poems, a sign that these were emotional expressions by herself, for herself, she was not talking to anyone else.
- Finally and most telling, Emily was a recluse spending almost all of her time alone in her house and even staying in just her room. This can maybe point to a Phobia – like fear of crowds and such, it could also point to a very independent person who is so completely frustrated with the society she lives in she just doesn’t bother to interact. A key emotion to a recluse is “frustration”
“My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun”
For a poet to express their emotion at any time, their first thought is about which format should be used for the poem. In this poem, Emily has used the Quatrain (four verses) with alternate rhymes, but these are in many lines “slant rhymes” or lines that “sort of sound the same but not quite”.
Use of the quatrain is also informative; this style is typically used to express heavy spiritual topics, death topics, or deep meanings. In other words Emily has not used a poem format that in any way indicates light hearted happiness or romance but a deep heavy subject, like having a heavy beef stew for dinner.
I see short stilted lines, many of the lines don’t quite rhyme (slant rhymes) and this adds to the short, sharp tones in her voice. Especially note the last lines of each section; it’s startling because it does not fit in rhyme or rhythm.
In the analysis of the poem at the bottom of the link you gave me I see three explanations:
- Emily is writing out of anger for her father and restrictive social roles
- Emily is writing about poetry as her “Master”
- Dangers and risks of being a woman
Personally, I don’t get any of these. These analyses are rooted in today’s world explaining today’s issues with little understanding of Emily and her world, but again there is no right or wrong and these answers are fine as a quick shallow response. Also, poets rarely write about “poetry” they write about anything else but rarely about the vehicle of their expression.
I don’t know who “He” is, my feeling is that it is either God or Sex or perhaps both, there was a tremendous amount of guilt associated with sex that was intermingled with religion at the time making the experience very deep and perhaps disturbing for some women. It would be very nice if we knew when she wrote this, was she young? Old? Middle aged? Menopausal? Was she reflecting on a young lover she once had?
I’ll break the explanation out stanza by stanza:
My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun -
In Corners – till a Day
The Owner passed – identified -
And carried Me away -
Emily feels confined, restricted in her life until one day the “Owner” shows himself and sets her free. “Loaded Gun” is not necessarily an expression of anger but an expression that she feels she has something to say or do but cannot say or do those things and it would take just a small nudge to set her expression off, like the hammer in a pistol. Guns were everywhere in those days and using it in this line is not really a surprise.
And now We roam in Sovereign Woods -
And now We hunt the Doe -
And every time I speak for Him -
The Mountains straight reply -
Emily roams the “Sovereign Woods” to me this indicates an illicit or illegal action. To enter the “Kings Woods” and hunt was a serious crime at her time and she would have known that. They hunt the Doe, I believe means they end an innocence. It is also interesting that “She speaks for Him” why does she need to speak up and defend him, yet even so the powers that be or the Mountains, shut her up quickly.
And do I smile, such cordial light
Upon the Valley glow -
It is as a Vesuvian face
Had let its pleasure through –
To me, this speaks as though she is remembering a lustful sexual encounter. Often analysis looks at Vesuvian and says she is expressing rage. I don’t see that, she is expressing a tempering of a hard personality. A Vesuvian face is one that has a sharp sarcastic tongue but that quickly softens and she says that her pleasure has shown through not a false smile but genuine pleasure.
And when at Night – Our good Day done -
I guard My Master’s Head -
‘Tis better than the Eider-Duck’s
Deep Pillow – to have shared –
Again she is protective of her Master’s head and finds more comfort there than with a deep downy feather pillow.
To foe of His – I’m deadly foe -
None stir the second time -
On whom I lay a Yellow Eye -
Or an emphatic Thumb –
And again protective, almost jealously so, she says she will fight anyone who tries to confront her Master, Yellow eye says jealously or “evil eye” and emphatic Thumb (or thumb your nose) was a gesture of disdain and insult at that time.
Though I than He – may longer live
He longer must – than I -
For I have but the power to kill,
Without–the power to die—
This is the most riddle like section. Some analyses even say that Emily was in a state of confused thinking, that’s just poor analysis. To be honest, I’m not exactly certain what she is saying; I get a feeling that she doesn’t want “He” to leave her even by death. There is a reluctant tone in the second line almost pleading, “he longer must than I” The last two lines are the most mysterious. I get the sense that she’s saying while she can kill, through abortion (the only means of birth control at the time) or more broadly that she could kill someone and be forgiven her sins, if she committed suicide she’d never be forgiven and would go to hell, hence the power to die is not in her hands and she does not want to loose “Him” first. In other words, I see deeply religious tones in those lines; she’s speaking in common vernacular understanding of the times.
Hope this helps!
