Chapter 7 - Dickinson's Techniques Flashcards
Alliteration
Repetition of words beginning with the same consonant used to emphasise poetic effects.
Example: “Heavenly hurt” (indicates oxymoronic effect) in ‘There’s a certain Slant of light’
Ambiguity
The capacity of words and phrases to have more than one meaning.
Example: Dickinson’s poem, ‘My Life has stood - a Loaded Gun’ is open to interpretation.
Anaphora
Word or phrase repeated a succession of times in a poem.
Example: the repetition of ‘It was not…’ in ‘It was not Death, for I stood up’ shows how anaphora can create patterns in a text.
Aphorism
A small phrase that communicates a universally accepted truth. They are characterised as a declarative said with a tone of confidence and certainty.
Example: The opening lines of ‘This World is not Conclusion’ and ‘One need not be a Chamber - To be Haunted’ could be described as aphoristic.
Assonance
Repetition of the similar vowel sound in close proximity.
Example: Dickinson used ‘o’ sound (fellow, alone, zero, bone)
Caesura
Break or pause, in a poem normally through the use of a comma or a full stop. Created in Dickinson’s poetry through dashes. Understanding a caesura depends on the relationship between the words either side of it.
Capitalisation
The use of a capital letter. Dickinson used this in an unorthodox way, as she applies capitalisation to words that would not normally have it. Some literary experts attribute it to her apparently love for the German language in which all nouns are capitalised. The capitalisation can connote power or authority.
Common metre
The rhythmic pattern used in hymns and ballads, which proved to be the most common form of Dickinson’s work. Consists of quatrains that have alternate lines of 8 and 6 syllables. Rhyme scheme used in common metre is usually ABAB or ABCB.
Dashes
Normally used to indicate a sudden change of mind, but instead, it is used to communicate a sense of incompleteness, indicating a feeling of uncertainty. Dickinson uses dashes, almost everywhere in her work and at the end of many of her poems.
End-stopped
A line of poetry with a comma, full-stop or dash at the end.
Example: Most lines are end-stopped in ‘There’s a certain Slant of light’.
Enjambment
When text from one line seamlessly flows into the next line, because there is no punctuation at the end.
Example: In ‘Because I could not stop for Death-‘ the enjambement ‘He knew no haste/ And I had put away/ My labour and my leisure…’ can be said to reflect the smooth movement of Death’s ‘Carriage’.
Eye-rhyme
Two words which at first glance, seem like they rhyme, but when said do not actually rhyme.
Example: In ‘Because I could not stop for Death-‘ the -y endings of ‘away’ and ‘civility’ at first glance seem as though they rhyme when in reality they do not. This is a poetic form used to show that not everything is as it appears.
Gothic
A genre of literature that is very gloomy. Often characterised by settings such as haunted houses and preoccupation with death.
Example: ‘One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted’ is a poem that is quite gothic.
Irony
Where the deeper and surface meaning of the poem greatly contrast.
Example: ‘This World is not Conclusion’ is ironic as later in the poem Dickinson shows she is far from certain about the afterlife.
Metaphor
When an image is used to show that a person or thing, takes on different characteristics.
Example: Dickinson uses implicit metaphors and they are not always obvious, such as what is the ‘gun’ in ‘My Life has stood-‘.
