The dashes in the poem help to emphasize the less important parts of the poem, as well as to show where similes and metaphors occur. You might likeWhen did emily dickinson go to middle school? This contrast creates a feeling of unease and uncertainty in the reader, making it difficult to discern the poet’s true intent. The dashes in the poem create ambiguity in the meaning of the poem as a whole because the form of the poem contrasts and undermines the words of the poem. What is the effect of the repeated use of dashes throughout the poem This allows her to create a sense of tension or ambiguity in her writing.

Additionally, Dickinson uses dashes to join ideas together, but the dash creates space between the ideas at the same time. She often uses them to indicate a long pause or to leave a thought incomplete. They can also be used to signal an interruption in a sentence.ĭickinson’s use of dashes is purposeful and for effect. In this context, it represents something that is in a temporary or transitional state.ĭashes are a great way to add dramatic effect to a sentence, or to connect independent clauses. The dashed line is often used as a placeholder, indicating that there is more to come.

For example: “Help! What is the punctuation in Emily Dickinsonĭickinson’s use of dashes and capitalization is unconventional, but it gives her poems a unique rhythm and feeling. Dashes are also used to mark the interruption of a sentence in dialogue. For example: The three female characters-the wife, the nun, and the jockey-are the incarnation of excellence. The poem ends with the fly disappearing into the darkness, and the speaker is left uncertain about where it has gone.ĭashes can be used to mark the beginning and end of a series, which might otherwise get confused, with the rest of the sentence. The dashes in the poem convey the sudden, erratic movements of the fly, and the light buzz it makes as it flies. This poem is about a fly that is flying around a room, and the speaker is observing its movements. What effect do the dashes in this stanza from Dickinson’s I heard a fly buzz when I died have? Her work is inspired by the rhythmic devices of religious psalms, but she commonly intersperses her own creative pauses within the stanzas. She experiments with capitalization and allows sentences to run on. Dickinson was a prolific writer, and is believed to have written over 1,800 poems in her lifetime, though only around a dozen were published during her lifetime.ĭickinson’s style is unique in that she disregards many common literary rules. Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, and she is often considered a ‘poet of death’. She was part of a prominent Amherst, Massachusetts family.ĭickinson’s poetry is characterized by its brevity, irregular form, and often enigmatic or cryptic language. What poetic style did Emily Dickinson use?Įmily Dickinson was an American poet who is today best known for her use of slant-rhyme, conceits, and unconventional punctuation, as well as her near-legendary reclusive habits. By doing so, she allows the reader to see the importance of that word or phrase in relation to the rest of the poem. So, the phrase “that oppresses” is meant to resonate with the reader.ĭickinson uses dashes in “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” to draw emphasis to a particular word or phrase. When she uses the dashes as commas, like the stanza from above, it shifts the focus on the words that follow the dash. They can take on the role of either commas or parentheses. The dashes are used to create an emphasis on parts of the sentence. You might likeWhat is emily dickinson poems about?

Poems like the dash