I Started Early - Took My Dog by Emily Dickinson Flashcards

1
Q

Context:

A
  • Emily Dickinson was a Puritan Christian and regularly visited the Church, perhaps influencing her to use common meter and balladic form.
  • Heavily influenced by the Romantic movement and the American Transcendentalist movement, inspiring her to use highly metaphorical, vividly descriptive language to portray overflowing emotion.
  • Dickinson was a recluse for most of her life and led a sequestered lifestyle, staying away from the public; perhaps this is reflected in the overwhelming emotions expressed by the speaker during a simple walk by the sea.
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2
Q

Form:

A
  • Lyrical ballad
  • 6 quatrains
  • ABCB rhyme scheme
  • Ballads tell stories; this poem recounts the adventure of the speaker
  • Dickinson influenced by hymns which used the same form; perhaps adds a special religious sense to this poem, exemplifying its impact on the speaker
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3
Q

Meter:

A
  • Common meter, influenced by hymns at Church
  • Alternating between iambic tetrameter and trimeter
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4
Q

Rhyme Scheme:

A
  • ABCB
  • Slant rhymes towards the end, symbolising the speaker’s pleasure and detachment from her senses
  • Slant rhymes also emphasise the end of her sexual awakening
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5
Q

Structure:

A
  • The tension seems to rise until the climactic point towards the middle, when the speaker is overwhelmed by the “sea”.
  • The tension falls as the speaker retreats to the familiar “Solid Town”
  • This rising and falling tension means that the structure exemplifies the speaker’s intense emotions at her sexual awakening
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6
Q

dog:

A

Symbol of innocence; the fact that it is never mentioned again perhaps highlights the loss of the speaker’s sexual virginity

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7
Q

KEY QUOTE: The tone immediately shifts to a fantastical, mesmerising atmosphere in the first stanza:

A

“The mermaids in the basement came out to look at me”

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8
Q

KEY QUOTE: The ropes are personified as beckoning the speaker to have an adventure, exemplifying the allure of the sea:

A

“Frigates […] extented Hempen Hands”

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9
Q

KEY QUOTE: The speaker is depicted as a mouse, exemplifying her feeling of vulnerability, contrasting with the mighty power of the sea, furthering the sense of adventure:

A

“presuming me to be a mouse”

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10
Q

KEY QUOTE: The sea rushes up past the speaker, up her body, depicting her overwhelmed emotions at this sexual encounter, amplified by the polysyndeton and anaphora:

A

“the tide went past my simple shoe - and past my apron - and my belt - and past my bodice”

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11
Q

KEY QUOTE: Climactic point:

A

“He would eat me up as wholly as a dew upon a dandelion’s sleeve - and then - I started”

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12
Q

KEY QUOTE: The sea pursues the speaker, creating a sense of adrenaline and fear as she retreats from this sexual experience:

A

“He - He followed - close behind”

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13
Q

KEY QUOTE(S): Depiction of temptation of the sea, through images of value:

A
  • “his silver heel”
  • “my shoes would overflow with Pearl”
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14
Q

KEY QUOTE: The speaker returns to familiarity:

A

“until we met the Solid Town”

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15
Q

Summary

A

This poem is an interesting one in that it can be interpreted in two distinct ways; firstly, it may simply be an intense account of an adventure that the reclusive speaker has, attracted by the mystery of the sea, while alternatively, it can be seen as a sexual awakening, with the “mighty” sea being personified as a man dominating our “little” speaker. The vivid use of metaphors accentuates the extent to which the speaker has been moved and overwhelmed by this experience - sexual or not.

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