Despair poems Flashcards
(27 cards)
Loaded Gun- form
Lyric poem in 6 stanzas
Lyrical ballad as it tells a story
Common metre
Loaded Gun- stanzas 1-5
Loaded Gun- stanza 6
Loaded Gun- what statement
In Passage, the speaker sources superficial agency through an unconventional relationship with a patriarchal figure.
Loaded Gun- D’s intentions
Dickinson characterizes female identity as immanently powerful; exposing the futility of seeking self-actualization through subservience while urging women to resist subjugation by patriarchal forces.
Loaded Gun- conceit
Female speaker as a weapon of destruction + t/f tool of patriarchy
Hope- form and metre
Lyric poem in 3 stanzas
‘Definition poem’
Hymnal qualities of common metre to make the poem sound melodic like birdsong itself
Hope- conceit
Hope as a bird perched in the soul which provides comfort during life’s darker moments
Hope- Stanza 1
Defines hope, also obliquely about despair
Hope is everpresent even if we can’t discern it in life’s darker moments
Hope- Stanza 2
Not only is hope present in despair, it is in fact strongest in despair
Hope- stanza 3
Hope has remained with the speaker themselves in the most extreme circumstances, and as asked nothing in return
Hope= Dickinson’s intentions
Hope is a uniting force which provides a source of light in the darkest of times
Sp. has experienced this themselves.
Slant- metre
Regular hymn mater belies + intensifies sp’s despair as in ‘Frost’, ‘Funeral’ and ‘Blank’
Slant- what statement
Dickinson explores the incapacity of religion and external paradigms to provide solace in the face ineludible mortality.
3 purposes ‘Slant’
- Despair is inherently linked to mortality, nature is also linked to mortality
- The structures that transcendentalists + Christians find binding do not necessarily provide comfort/ solace
- Discourse on shared humanity/ agony is isolating yet universal
Blank- metre
- Works self-consciously against the common metre.
- Severed tetrameter in Line 1 defers expectations and creates a literal blank space/ mimics the vacancies of a maze.
Blank- form
A lyric poem in 2 stanzas
Blank- 2 interpretations of the ending
- Sp. turns away from the abyss of despair, and closes their eyes to continue occupying the suffocating, liminal space.
- Romantic resolution to trust their intuition/ tactile feel rather than eyesight, to guide them out of the labyrinth
Funeral- Form
A lyric poem in 5 stanzas
Each stanza follows the stage of a funeral
Told entirely in the first person
1. The wake
2. The service
3.The procession
4. The funeral toll
5. The burial
Funeral- conceit
The speaker experiencing a funeral in their brain, as they descend into insanity
Funeral- Stanzas 1-4
Concrete voice to an experience of despair
Excruciating + annihilating pain
Proto-modern portrayal of despair
Funeral- stanza 5 (Dickinsonian turn)
- Sp descends into insanity as they enter the grave
- Epiphanic revelation/ discovery of new worlds> break through rather than break-down
Funeral- metre
Regular common meter + uncharacteristic full rhymes belie/ intensify the sp.’s psychical despair (Link to B/c and Frost)
Funeral- What statement
Dickinson presents an introspective reflection of disassociation, alienation and sorrow through the conceit of a funeral procession occurring in the speaker’s conscience.