The poems of Emily Dickinson have two peculiar
characteristics. Firstly, they are untitled. Most poems have titles – The
Daffodils, Journey of the Magi, Anthem for Doomed Youth. But Emily Dickinson’s
poems have none. They are now known by numbers.
The poem stands on its own – and is itself its
own interpreter. To add a title may limit the verse, focus attention on one
particular aspect of its meaning, blind us to what else is hidden there.
Secondly, they are punctuated throughout with
dashes and capital letters. Unlike conventional poets, she uses very little
punctuation. The capital letters draw our attention to particular aspects of
the poem. The dashes – make us pause and think.
I like the dashes most of all. Sometimes they seem to
serve as a comma or a colon. Often they conclude the verse. Instead of a full
stop which implies a conclusion, she has a dash which implies a question,
maybe, or more particularly, something which cannot be answered, resolved,
neatly packaged up for easy consumption. Nothing is cut and dried. She makes us
think!
The Heart asks Pleasure – first –
And then – Excuse from Pain –
And then – those little Anodynes
That deaden suffering –
And then – to go to sleep –
And then – if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor
The privilege to die - (536)
The poem doesn’t end with a full-stop but a
dash. Death is not the end. What is? She isn’t sure. Are you? The dash leaves
it open-ended. Yes, we know that we shall die but is that it? There is
something unknown, unfinished about death. What is known is the empty space,
the nothingness which follows Emily Dickinson’s concluding dash.
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