Analysis by: Miss Bryant
Speaker
This speaker is someone who is not familiar with every aspect of life but has a strong sense of belief.
Rhyme Scheme
Moor--a
Sea--b
looks--c
be--b
God--d
Heaven--e
spot--f
given--e
Important Imagery
The image of the sea is important in this poem. It suggests the inconsistancy of human existance and how the lack of physical evidence is a natural human state. The sea, like man, is unpredictable but we know it's there whether we've seen it or not.
Analysis
The speaker in this poem begins by explaining the things she has never seen, yet she knows exist like the "Moor" and the "Sea." She then goes to say that despite the fact that she's never seen them, she knows they exist and what they look like and what they are. Dickinson then makes her point in the second stanza. While she has "never spoke with God/nor visited in Heaven" she knows, because of the speaker's strong faith, that God and Heaven are as real as the sea. This is a poem about faith and religion and the idea that even if you can not see something it does not mean you can not believe it or it does not exist. You can still "know" that things you can not provide proof for are real.
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1830-1886
Emily Dickinson's Poetry
This Blogger site is dedicated to the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Students will interpret her poetry to share with their peers in order to develop a strong understanding of her poetry.
Emily Dickinson
1830-1886
About Me
- Emily Dickinson
- I wrote at least 1,775 poems throughout my life although only seven were published. I am often regarded as one of the greatest American poets. Most of my life I lived in total isolation from the rest of society, dressing only in white and prohibiting others from seeing me. Even as I grew sicker, I would only allow the doctor to observe me from a distance. After two years of fighting illness, I died in the same house I was born.