Dickinson

Question 1

Opening sentence

Answer 1

Throughout her opus, Dickinson’s ambivalence towards transcendentalist tenets manifests itself as her fluctuations between conformity to and subversion of contemporary literary and cultural motifs. This is especially seen through…

Question 2

‘Because’ WHAT

Answer 2

In passage , the conceit of death’s carriage ride allows Dickinson to explore the complex ideas surrounding death and the afterlife.

Question 3

‘Because’ WHY

Answer 3

Ultimately, Dickinson’s culminating view on death is withheld, allowing readers to interpret the sentimental or morbid concept of life’s ephemerality in the face of inscrutable death.

Question 4

‘Fly’ WHAT

Answer 4

In passage , a speaker seemingly recounts their own death and the vigil preceding it, allowing Dickinson to engage with the contemporary ideas of Ars Moriendi and the inscrutability of death, seen across her oeuvre.

Question 5

‘Fly’ WHY

Answer 5

Ultimately, Dickinson conveys some hope in the Christian provision of an afterlife while consistently mitigating this through macabre and gothic views on death in her opus.

Question 6

‘Something Quieter’ WHAT

Answer 6

In passage , Dickinson explores the complex fluctuations of the tender grief and frustration of death through the speaker’s presence as a Puritan wake, exposing her engagement with Ars Moriendi.

Question 7

‘Something Quieter’ WHY

Answer 7

Thus, similar to Fly, Dickinson castigates contemporary religious efforts to elude death by highlighting the inescapable intensity of death’s ambiguity and ineffability.

Question 8

‘Opposite House’ WHAT

Answer 8

In passage , an unidentified speaker explores the relationship between the domestic and haunting elements of a neighbourhood death.

Question 9

‘Opposite House’ WHY

Answer 9

Ultimately, Dickinson presents a criticism of social and religious traditions that seek to expedite and obfuscate death in order to embrace the inscrutability and enigmatic nature of death.

Question 10

‘To Know’ WHAT

Answer 10

Dickinson’s elegiac lyric ‘To Know’ presents a speaker who, through an exploration into the death of a soldier in civil war America, speculates upon the universality and poignancy of loss.

Question 11

‘To Know’ WHY

Answer 11

Ultimately, Dickinson diverges elegiac tradition to present the beauty of the transient human experience and connection while remaining keenly engaged with Good Death customs.

Question 12

‘Blank’ WHAT

Answer 12

In passage , the conceit of despair as a maze of blanks allows Dickinson to explore not only the hopelessness of emotional suffering but also the intuition that can be gained from experiencing despair.

Question 13

‘Blank’ WHY

Answer 13

Overall, while Dickinson accentuates the debilitating nature of despair, she also utilises Blank as an opportunity to reaffirm her faith in the clarity of romantic imagination.

Question 14

‘Loaded Gun’ WHAT

Answer 14

In passage , the female speaker explores the strange fluctuations of agency and passive servitude in an unequal relationship, reflecting Dickinson’s condemnation of patriarchal power.

Question 15

‘Loaded Gun’ WHY

Answer 15

Overall, Dickinson censures the obfuscation of female potential under the patriarchy and urges female readers to avoid seeking self-actualisation through subservience.

Question 16

‘Frost’ WHAT

Answer 16

In passage , Dickinson utilises an unidentified speaker and the conceit of death to portray attempts to obfuscate and resist death despite its inescapable power.

Question 17

‘Frost’ WHY

Answer 17

Thus, Dickinson criticises classic religious views of death as a necessary part of the natural process and highlights the value of mortal life and the tragic beauty of its ephemerality.

Question 18

‘Hope’ WHAT

Answer 18

Passage , is a definition poem in which a characteristically unspecified speaker reflects on the fluctuations and necessity of hope during despair.

Question 19

‘Hope’ WHY

Answer 19

Ultimately, through her depiction of hope’s omnipresence, Dickinson celebrates how the song of hope can always be heard above the despair of life’s distress no matter how consuming adversity can feel.

Question 20

‘Funeral’ WHAT

Answer 20

In passage , the conceit of a funeral in the speaker’s brain is a manifestation of psychological anguish and despair that is presented as possibly Dickinson’s own experience with despair.

Question 21

‘Funeral’ WHY

Answer 21

Thus, through her depictions of the depth of mental anguish, Dickinson highlights the emotional suffering of individuals while also positioning this as a means of revelation.

Question 22

‘Slant’ WHAT

Answer 22

In passage , the deeply ambiguous speaker explores how mortality within nature engenders a universal despair and reflection on humanity’s own ephemerality.

Question 23

‘Slant’ WHY

Answer 23

Thus, Dickinson subverts transcendentalist views of nature as a divine power by exploring the despair of the visceral mortality of all living creatures and acknowledges the suffering but also connecting ability of these feelings.

Question 24

‘Like Rain’ WHAT

Answer 24

In passage , the ambiguous vate poet speaker is a vehicle through which Dickinson explores the sublimity of nature’s dynamic beauty and divinity.

Question 25

‘Like Rain’ WHY

Answer 25

Thus, through the depiction of a sublime, possibly divine natural experience, Dickinson explores the power of romantic imagination to transcend human knowledge and circumstance.

Question 26

‘Two Butterflies’ WHAT

Answer 26

In passage , the conceit of two butterflies representing both nature’s sublime beauty and capacity to inspire the poetic imagination allows Dickinson to explore the transience of consciousness through nature and romantic thought.

Question 27

‘Two Butterflies’ WHY

Answer 27

Thus, the intense poetic experience of the vate speaker may reflect Dickinson’s view of sublime nature as epiphanic yet ephemeral.

Question 28

‘Saddest Noise’ WHAT

Answer 28

In passage , Dickinson destabilises Riverdi traditions through her presentation of an ambiguous speaker who struggles with the fluctuations of nature as a romantic refuge and an intensification of grief and the despair of human mortality.

Question 29

‘Saddest Noise’ WHY

Answer 29

Thus, Dickinson’s subversion of classic riverdi and romantic traditions allows her to present the multifaceted constitution of nature and its often grief-evoking qualities through a reminder of mortality.

Question 30

‘Narrow Fellow’ WHAT

Answer 30

In passage , one of the ten poems published in Dickinson’s lifetime, a male speaker recounts a childhood encounter with nature as a means of exploring both a naïve view of nature’s benevolence and its inherent deceit.

Question 31

‘Narrow Fellow’ WHY

Answer 31

Thus, through her depictions of nature’s duplicity and inherent malevolence, Dickinson recognises the potential but also limitations of classic transcendentalist views.

Question 32

‘Blazing’ WHAT

Answer 32

In passage , the conceit of the sun as a juggler with multiple guises reveals Dickinson’s engagement with romantic celebration of nature’s beautiful ephemerality.

Question 33

‘Blazing’ WHY

Answer 33

Thus, Dickinson’s contemplation of the transitory qualities of light, seen across her oeuvre, allows her to celebrate the fragile beauty of nature.

Question 34

‘Letter’ WHAT

Answer 34

In passage , an anonymous speaker, likely representing Dickinson’s autobiographical reflections on the human condition, explores the fluctuations of isolation and divine importance of the poetic vocation.

Question 35

‘Letter’ WHY

Answer 35

Thus, through her presentation of the fraught relationship between poets and their poesy, Dickinson divulges the meaningful yet isolating endeavour of contemplating the dynamics of human experience.

Question 36

‘Publication’ WHAT

Answer 36

In passage , an ambiguous speaker defines publication as a sordid, sacrilegious act, reflecting Dickinson’s own censure of the commercialisation of creativity, as evidenced by her publishing of only ten poems from her substantial oeuvre in her lifetime.

Question 37

‘Publication’ WHY

Answer 37

Thus, through the characterisation of publication as a hostile imposition on creative imagination and poetic independence, Dickinson aligns with transcendentalist tenets defending the freedom of divine creativity.