"The Saddest Noise, The Sweetest Noise"

“THE SADDEST NOISE, THE SWEETEST NOISE”

Belonging occurs through a common human experience. Dickinson represents this in “The Saddest Noise, The Sweetest Noise” with her repetition of ‘we’ in the fourth stanza. By using this inclusive pronoun, Dickinson reinforces the notion of belonging through a shared experience of grief. This is due to the universality of death because of the human condition, which establishes a connection with the persona and the reader.

The progressing of time can intensify belonging. This is evident in Dickinson’s continual change of months and seasons as in, “March and April line.” This adjustment conveys a time of instability that hence intensifies the persona’s feelings of belonging and exasperates her feeling of loss. The personification of ‘summer’ in ‘beyond which summer hesitates’ also reflects Dickinson’s ambivalence about possession and loss.

Belonging creates an eternal connection. This is noticeable in “The Saddest Noise, The Sweetest Noise” due to the persona’s grief after a loved one dies. This is seen in, “ It makes us think of all the dead/ That sauntered with use her,/ By separation’s sorcery,” where the sibilance of the ‘s’ sounds emphasises the persona’s contemplation of loss.

Michelle Huynh, Kobika Manimaaran & Kanashya Thivagarupan

http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/yarosessaynature.html

NATURE AND THE SELF: DICKINSON, BISHOP,PLATH, AND OLIVER



The importance of the natural world can be traced through time within the context of many disciplines, including science, religion, and literature, to name a few. Not only do humans rely on nature for survival, but many have learned to depend on nature for inspiration. During the early nineteenth century, American literature, under the influence of Romanticism, depicted nature as a source of “knowledge,” “refuge,” and “revelation” (Reuben). Works by male authors of the era—such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman—became instrumental in shaping contemporary and future writers’ ideas about nature. Specifically, American women poets of the nineteenth century and beyond have used nature to orient the poet’s place in the world by seeking the wisdom and escape that the natural world offers. Major female poets—Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, and Mary Oliver—all use nature as subject matter in a variety of ways, and a common link between these poets is their use of nature as metaphor in relation to the self.
Similarities exist in how each poet develops message and content. For instance, word choice, symbols, and images provide several examples of how a reader can link these authors, with some associations stronger than others. However, a reader can reference each poet’s biographical information in an effort to unravel particular styles and stances. Whether or not the authors intended for their personal lives to line the poems like shelf paper, connections between the personal and poetic undeniably exist. Dickinson, Bishop, Plath, and Oliver share a common treatment of nature as metaphor that parallels biographical details about their lives. In addition, each poet portrays a distinctive desire to merge fully with nature in a way impossible to achieve while physically alive. A close reading of selected poems will result in a progressive portrayal of the American female poetic mind grappling with issues of spirituality, a sense of place, and identity as explored through nature.


Emily Dickinson: 1830-1886

Emily Dickinson led a unique life, held unconventional viewpoints, and spent the bulk of her later years devoted to writing poetry. She received an education from both Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, where her ideas about religion and society molded into those much different from the norms of her community. This nineteenth-century poet wrote much of her work under the unusual circumstances of seclusion, and Dickinson did not aspire to publish, even though she wrote over 2,000 poems and communicated with a select few about her work. She wrote in an experimental, original style, and her content complemented the form. Her poetic power lay in her ability to use an everyday backdrop to present complex ideas in sharp-edged, compact stanzas often following a rhyme scheme.
Dickinson continually questioned and searched for meaning, and her poems can leave a reader with many unanswered questions. Throughout her poetry, she isn’t afraid to approach the world with honesty: “Despite Dickinson’s fanciful image and allegories, her poems insist on their own kind of uncompromising realism. They speak of the universal human effort to imagine experience in reassuring terms, but they do not suggest that reality offers much in the way of assurance…” (“Emily” 1042). While the poetic legend didn’t shy away from exposing nature’s unforgiving, unsentimental qualities, she also felt free to approach the subject with perpetual awe, trying to breach the boundary between human life and eternal knowledge. In a number of poems, she uses nature as metaphor for something separate from the self, ultimately exposing an illusive and invisible borderline. The qualities of the natural world she identifies and interprets are represented in varying tones through interesting symbols and word choice. She mirrors the ambiguity of nature in her own writing by leaving much unsaid and unexplained to the reader. She uses the uncertainty to her advantage in her sustained search for nature’s many revelations.

Another poem exploring the mysteries of nature through the limited knowledge of a human lens opens “What mystery pervades a well!” This line describes an interaction between speaker and nature, with an idea of eternal separation concluding the poem. The six four-line stanzas lack significant punctuation and employ an ABCB rhyme scheme of exact, vowel and suspended rhymes; each stanza offers an experiential snapshot of the speaker’s journey. In this poem, Dickinson uses multiple elements of nature in metaphorical ways to describe the positions of humans. Specifically, the poem begins with an idea of wonder and confinement, as presented through a device used by humans:

What mystery pervades a well!
That water lives so far—
A neighbor from another world
Residing in a jar
(1-4)

Based on this stanza, an unseen boundary exists between man and the water encased by the earth. In addition, Dickinson compares humans to vegetation when she personifies “grass.” The speaker states that “The grass does not appear afraid…” and ponders the physical position of the “grass:” “…Can stand so close and look so bold / At what is awe to me” (9, 11-12). These lines reveal a common human fear of the unknown, as well as show the aggressive manner of those who believe they master nature. This leads to a further interpretation that perhaps Dickinson is questioning whether or not the “grass” has the ability to understand. Dickinson also shows the close discernable link between humans and nature by contrasting “grass” with “sedge.” Sedge resembles grass but has solid stems. The “sedge” remains distinct in the poem and is placed specifically by “the sea.” The superficial likeness pointedly relays the interconnected nature of man and earth.
Dickinson switches to a human perspective to further explore the idea of fear. In the penultimate stanza, she relays the haunting and mysterious qualities of nature:

But nature is a stranger yet;
The ones that cite her most
Have never passed her haunted house,
Nor simplified her ghost.
(17-20)

In this excerpt, nature is used to symbolize both a “haunted house,” as well as the “ghost” that inhabits it. While nature might be portrayed as an inspirational harbor, it can also embody alarming qualities. The complexities of this quatrain are explored in Yuto Miyata’s article, “The Rejection of the Traditional Idea of Nature in Emily Dickinson’s Poems”: “The word ‘haunted,’ originally meaning to be visited by a strange form of a spirit, may imply that nature is haunted by an unidentified ghost. Perhaps this unidentified ghost is nature’s inner truth: it can never be revealed to man, though it has many outer aspects to be observed and to make man imagine what they stand for. Nature never permits simplification by Dickinson” (81). In addition, the notion of a home, where one resides, should be comforting. However, the home that nature provides is an unsettling rather than reassuring environment; in fact, this dwelling’s occupants are figures of death. Dickinson concludes the poem with an ironic statement that shows the knowledge of nature is actually lessened as one becomes more aware of its greatness: “That those who know her, know her less / The nearer her they get.” Even though the reader is given a succinct message at the end, it doesn’t dilute the speaker’s quest for understanding already presented. According to this poem, the mystery of nature will continue to evolve and increase as an individual becomes more intent on scrutinizing its mysteries. Consequently, the line the speaker seeks to cross in order to receive wisdom and a retreat seems to shift farther away with each step similar to the movement of a horizon.
Dickinson’s treatment of nature is various and contradicting because it sometimes renders
an incredible beauty, and other times exposes a relentless, unforgiving enigma. The poet once said that “The unknown is the largest need of the intellect,” and nature is clearly an entity she considered a mystery (“14” 83). A reader can conclude that Dickinson perused the pages of nature as she would a text book, as she perhaps did the Bible, in an attempt to assemble the elements into a coherent story. Through her poetry, she captured her quest to understand the illusive natural world by portraying ambiguous journeys. Her unconventional perspective and life parallel her unusual writing style and content; accordingly, her life story is as easily identifiable as her work.

Emily Dickinson and the Poetry of Hypothesis Andrew Gibson

Emily Dickinson and the Poetry of Hypothesis

Andrew Gibson

è ‘She makes her statements in the knowledge that other attitudes are always possible and viable’

è In a letter to T.W Higginson, Emily Dickinson writes: “When I state myself, as representative of the Verse-it does not mean –me- but a supposed person’

è Hence there is a distinction although one could argue it is superficial between poet and speaker. However as extension students would know it is not as obvious to the extent of Browning’s poetry

è Of the speakers, “there is nothing specific about their personalities or circumstances, and their tones and concerns are identical with those in a host of other poems’

è Poems are ‘imaginative experiments’

è ‘not dramatic monologues’ but similar to them

è She uses many conventions of poetry à ‘lyric al expression of personal feeling and the kind of self-enactment we associate with dramatic art’

è Her poetry is significant as she ‘is the difficulty of characterising feeling, of ascertaining the boundaries within in which it can be defined’

è Her poetry represents both paradox and perspectives

· Public and private

· Serious and trivial

· Microcosm and macrocosm

è Identity plays an important role in her poetryà she seems to ‘oscillate between extremes’

o Relevant to Keat’s ‘assertion that the imagination of a poet has identity

è ‘Reversibility is a character of ED grammar and syntax. Verbs may be read as either active or passive. A clause, a phrase, a line of verse often seems to belong to two sentences at once. Nouns may be both the object of a sentence and its object. ‘

è Verbs maybe third person singular or subjunctive

è ‘the grammatical ambiguities make sense seem possible, in spite of confusion and uncertainty’

è Uses subjunctives

o ‘make propositions seem more conditional and less universal, less like absolute truths’

o May seem unorthodox but it is ‘in the context which she uses it’

è Poems ‘suspend conclusion, undermine the positions from which they start, balance different and often antithetical attitudes, and play them off against one another. Assertions class, and leave each other weakened and frail’

è ED ‘chooses a phrase that both sustains and results the mood and meaning of the lines around it’

è poems are ‘frequently on the point of exchanging one view for another and very different one’

Microcosm noun

1.

a little world; a world in miniature ( opposed to macrocosm).

2.

anything that is regarded as a world in miniature.

3.

human beings, humanity, society, or the like, viewed as anepitome or miniature of the world or universe.

Macrocosm noun

1.

the great world or universe; the universe considered as awhole ( opposed to microcosm).

2.

the total or entire complex structure of something: themacrocosm of war.

3.

a representation of a smaller unit or entity by a larger one,presumably of a similar structure

Dhruv's post

I Had Been Hungry All the Years

Emily Dickinson expresses her yearning for more fulfilment through a stronger connection with society, which is not attained due to Dickinson’s reclusive nature. She sustains this through the extended metaphor of food which symbolises the joys of life and hunger to emphasise her longing to belong. In the opening line, she clearly states “I had been hungry all the years”, and further underlines her sense of loneliness that she felt as an outsider, “I looked in windows for the wealth I could not hope for mine”. She uses sensory words such as “trembling”, “touched” and transferred epithet; the wine as “curious”, to show her unfamiliarity with human experiences. Dickinson contrasts this with her stronger connection with the natural world through the metaphor, “nature’s dining room”. Dickinson further extends this to juxtapose the abundance of life’s pleasures available to her, with the “crumb” that she has become so accustomed to. Dickinson uses a natural simile to depict her lack of belonging, comparing herself to “berry of a mountain bush transplanted to the road”. Her underlying philosophy is that one may strive to belong to a certain way of life, however when finally given the opportunity, one may turn away from those connections due to their former beliefs and convictions. Her metaphorical revelation “I found that hunger was a way of persons outside windows the entering takes away”, concludes that our experiences may make it difficult to make new connections, regardless of our desire to belong. Thus, Emily Dickinson suggests that our experiences and perceptions shape our ability to share connections.

I Died for Beauty

What notions of belonging are explored in the poem? How are they conveyed?

True belonging comes from shared values
Although many claim to belong, in order to truly belong, one must not feel the need to compromise their values. In the poem, we can see that the man and the woman share the commonality of having died for similar causes – the woman for beauty and the man for truth. This is depicted through the yearning tone of the line “We bretheren are”, which suggests a longing by the man to belong to another who has also sacrificed themselves for their values. Although both refuse to compromise their values, it is this very reason that they ultimately find each other and develop a relationship providing them with a sense of belonging.

? Belonging involves some degree of a loss of identity ?
In the second stanza of the poem, it is clear that both the man and the woman feel a sense of belonging, however this is gradually cut short in the last stanza, where both are finally silenced. Dickinson’s reference to nature in the line “Until the moss had reached our lips/And covered up our names” suggests that just like the inevitable nature of the growth of moss has covered their tombstones, the perceived sense of belonging has inevitably led to a loss of their identity.

Helen

I had been hungry all the years

The concept of belonging in this poem can be seen through Dickinson's metaphoric expression of "hungry" as her desire for people to accept her art (poetry) and herself as it is.
With the poem describing and contrasting her detailed emotions of being metaphorically very hungry outside the window ie) desperately desiring for the acceptance of herself and her poetry, and also having the food infront of her inside the room of the window ie) finally belonging through people's acceptance of her art, reveals her opinion that once she belongs, her great passion and desire for her poetry would disappear - just like the emotion of having "plenty of food" thus being not hungry.

This poem explores the concept belonging and being accepted through her poetry, and also the idea that as she perceives her poetry is not accepted in her current society, this hunger and desire for acceptance is the motivation for her to write her art. This idea can be seen in the contrast of the lines in the poem.
"I looked in windows for the wealth I could not hope for mine" uses the personal pronoun "I" for the beginning of each line to convey the desperation the persona feels to be inside the room with the wealth of food. However this hunger is contrasted with the line "As berry of a mountain bush Transplanted to the road" which uses emjambment to give a sense of oddness and how much the persona feels out of place once she is with the wealth of the food.

Simply and personally, i think that Dickinson may be expressing her thought that
-once i feel that i belong and that people have accepted my art (poetry) , i might lose my desire and motivation in holding onto my values and art. So maybe belonging/acceptance isn't the key into standing for my art and values as it may be the key and trigger in actually losing them.

From Prachi

“I Died for beauty but was scarce”

The poem aims to explore the notions of belonging and feelings associated with dignified acceptance through a varied style and form. Dickinson discusses the issue of belonging by commenting on the journey of two individuals who have spent the entirety of their life in search for acceptance and understanding. She uses death as a meeting place for the two as a means of conveying immortality however ironically they are forgotten as “the moss had...covered up our names”. Here she adds a taste of her omnipresent wry humour. Death, being a major issue in her life, allows Dickinson to reflect on personal issues which makes her poetry slightly more intimate. This is engaging as the audience feels a closer connection with the poet and therefore grows a stronger understating with the text.

Her choice of diction in “Adjusting in the tomb,” emphasises ones struggles to continually belong to a particular place or group. The fact that the dead are still trying to figure out a way to fit in to certain areas that they do not belong highlights the strong desire of the individual to belong however also shows that true belonging will never be achieved through compromise. The scarification of one’s values and beliefs does not ensure that that individual will completely belong and by continuing to ‘adjust’ the individual may have lost its own sense of identity.

I died for beauty but was scarce .

Hello ! As ms race mentioned today, its scary putting your work out for everyone to read! :) & sorry in advance if this is wrong/doesn't make sense.

It can be perceived that the poem's major theme is the idea of compromising for belonging. Dickinson at first creates the idea to her reader that belonging is an achievement or success for the individual. This is seen in "He questioned softly why I failed?"; the choice of language in 'failed' suggests to the reader that exclusion is almost the wrong pathway emphasised by the soft tone to create remorse by the persona. However it is later revealed that exclusion is more so a choice of the individual rather than result, and in this choice comes 'belonging'. This resultant belonging is expressed by the change in personal pronouns from "I" to "we" and language such as "kinsmen" which is a word associated with comfort and the company of others.

Another perception is the idea that perhaps Dickinson is conveying to her readers that belonging may exceed the physical barriers of life and death and forever be a metaphysical concept to humanity. This could be suggested from "And covered up our names." 'names' being symbolic of their identities conveys that although they had passed the physical barriers, they were still disregarded by Nature and did not belong to the values of society; even though they 'died for beauty' in hope to be appreciated.

I died for beauty but was scarce...

Concept: This poem may convey a sense of belonging to family. 

Analysis:

"One who died for truth was lain/ In an adjoining room"

- Traditionally, family groups were often buried in the same tomb. This metaphorical/physical depiction of an adjoining room may suggest that the two characters may have had some relation, suggesting that belonging to family persists even after death.

"We brethren are... as kinsmen met a night"

- The use of familial terms strongly conveys a sense of belonging to family.

Concept: In order to achieve true belonging, something must be sacrificed in regards to one's "critical values"

Analysis:

"I died for beauty... When one who died for truth"

- The metaphorical use of death highlights a sacrifice made in regards to their critical values. By remaining a martyr through and through, they have perhaps lost their ability to advocate their critical values, as they are "metaphorically" dead.

This loss in ability to advocate what is important to them can be seen as the sacrifice.

- However, this is resolved to an extent, as through sacrificing their ability to advocate their critical values, both characters have found one another, who seem to have a similar situation. In this sense, they have a true belonging to each other as they both "failed" for essentially the same reason and hence, can understand each other.

Not Emily Dickinson, but Roald Dahl "Yesterday Was Beautiful"

Belonging conceptual analysis

Concept 1: Approach A

Trauma can cause a sense of not belonging to one’s self, family and place.

The traumatic experience in Dahl’s Yesterday Was Beautiful is reflective of the German bombing of Greece projected through the nostalgia of the disconnection that war can lead to. Consequently, this reveals that trauma can cause a sense of not belonging to one’s self, family and place. Thus, the persona in the story moves from the physical to the metaphysical world where war has transformed him into an old man who does not perceive he to be the person he is in the present. Dahl reveals a sense of not belonging through the progression of understanding to empathy, which transcends as a relationship between the responder and the main character. This evident in the nostalgic approach

The old man looked up slowly, turning his head but not moving his shoulders…He looked at the pilot and he was like a blind man who looks towards something but does not see.

The sense of not belonging is emphasised through the simile, which reveals that the man is detached from himself, his surroundings and his state of mind. The use of past tense builds a relationship with the responders allowing them to perhaps perceive the sense of not belonging in Joannis Sparkis life. Further by delving into this dissatisfaction, the responder may correspond to this feeling in their own lives. Thus, the experience of not belonging enables Dahl to understand how a traumatic event can cause different perceptions of oneself, which can lead to disunity internally, which causes the external sense of alienation to family and place to follow.

Concept 2: Approach B

Time can cause change to perceptions of one self

The perception of one’s self corresponds to the personal, cultural, social and historical context one is exposed to. In order to belong, perhaps one must find one’s self, and then ideally belong to other groups such as family, common interest groups and places. However, time or progression can cause change to perceptions of one self, from not belonging to belonging and from belonging to not belonging. Dahl’s historical setting emphasizes this sense of time; further the events of World War II influence the changes in personal, cultural, social and historical context that cause Joannis Sparkis to perceive hi self differently. ‘The name seemed to have a significance for the old man and he smiled’, the foreboding tone and use of third person portrays that time can change the perception of oneself. The third person reveals the disunity between Joannis Spark is, highlighting that one’s changing context can have influence on one’s perception of self. By viewing himself in the third person, he has revealed that he has two identities that cannot forge together into one identity due to the trauma and event of World War II. He does not belong to himself anymore, and thus has perceived himself differently. This perhaps is further alluded to by the title ‘Yesterday was beautiful’, the past tense arguably reveals that when one belonged it was wonderful, but now it is a disunified, disconnected and alienated place where belonging does not flourish, it lingers in the air in a sense of limbo. The perception of oneself can change due to the nature of time. Time can bring changes to our cultural, social, historical and personal context which can alter our perceptions on belonging to one’s self.

Concept 3: Approach C- Approach A + Approach B

The temporal nature of existence

Temporal existence signifies each individual’s universal belonging to each other. Death is inevitable. Dahl explores this sense of belonging by highlighting the futility of war. ‘There’s no one here’, the simplistic style reveals this notion of belonging. Further, the references to death of his daughter, conveys how each individual perceives death in relation to their context (social, historical, personal and political).

It is just something that you should remember.’ The pilot stood on the road waiting. ‘Maria. Her name was Maria.’

The nostalgia creates feeling that when Maria, died Joannis lost apart of himself. Although we belong temporally when those who we belong to, or who belong to apart of us depart we can feel disorientated and isolated. There repetition of the name ‘Maria’ further emphasises this notion. The nature of death is also perceived differently later on,

‘Kill them all,’ she said softly. ‘Go and kill every man and every woman and baby. Do you hear me, Inglesus? You must kill them all.’ The little brown ball of paper became smaller and more screwed up. ‘The first one I see I shall kill.’ She paused.

The imperative tone portrays the need for death, in order for the wife to feel a sense of belonging, after war and the death of her daughter has caused isolation and depression. The dialogue ‘the first one I shall see I shall kill’ reveals to the responders that death is really temporal and random, but the message that arises is when someone who we love dearly dies we can progress into a state of limbo, of alienation. This is the fundamental aspect of belonging via the universality of the temporal nature of existence; someone will experience this loss of belonging. But its universality arises from its circumstantial nature. Loss of belonging through finally belonging to each individual can be tough, but it allows for each individual to challenge the perception of each self and in the process enrich ourselves. Therefore, perceiving ourselves in new ways, individual to our own experiences.

Ramble Ramble Ramble

(I Died for Beauty, but Beauty was scarce)

The poem seems to explore the consequences of standing by the personal values that mean the most to you. (Often, I would postulate that they would be privately held values) The persona "Died for Beauty" a line that can be metaphorically interpreted as meaning that the persona did not sacrifice their critical value(s). The persona awakens to find someone who has also staunchly supported their own critical value(s). Having both stuck to their values, they feel a connection, represented by strong (nouns?) "Kinsman" and "brethren". The fact that they have died or failed could be a metaphorical allusion to a sacrifice the characters have made due to their uncompromising abilities - which in this instance would presumably be the ability to belong in society.

HOWEVER, it may instead be seen as a penalty that has not yet been paid - that is, to cross the floor from not belonging to belonging, a sacrifice (represented by the "death") must be paid. Perhaps, this would take the form of a compromise, not in the core values held so tightly, but in other strong, yet not critical, values. After having "died" - ie paid their penalty and sacrificed some of the lesser values, they have the ability to belong. Having not sacrificed their critical values, they can feel positive about belonging, in that it does not compromise them in an unreasonable fashion. It is possible that it is the sacrifice itself which allows the characters to find common ground, which could be supported by the fact that they had to: Die before exchanging dialogue when "He questioned softly why I failed?" Or, perhaps, it allows the belonging to take place later, which could be suggested by the fact that they were buried separately. Perhaps still, it could suggest that the characters are more likely to converse and realise their commonality having made their sacrifice prior to meeting.

One could argue that Dickinson suggests that if you stick to your values, eventually, you will find someone who does the same, and you can truly belong. (Presumably Dickinson executed this technique with great skill from within her house... [Obvious Sarcasm])

But, that would be a rather naive and optimistic view to purport. It also ignores the significance of the death - which, has been suggested to represent a sacrifice of some sort. So, rather, Dickinson is more likely suggesting that there is no such thing as belonging without sacrifice. She warns however, that sacrifices should not be total and unconditional - and that to be completely comfortable, you must not sacrifice your most critical value(s) - even if the result of that is that belonging be denied of several occasions. In this sense, true belonging is not one when no sacrifices were necessary, but one where the sacrifices that were (inevitably and unavoidably) necessary could be made without violating the critical defining value(s) - and that the sacrifices could be made comfortably, without regret, sorrow or remorse.

TL;DR:

Either you make a compromise that does not forsake your critical values and you subsequently belong - OR - maintain all of your values and remain isolated, alienated, alone and NOT belonging.

i died for beauty but was scarce

This poem explores the concept of belonging transcending death by using the Romantic idea of death as the ultimate disconnect but ironically there is the possibility of unity amongst the two personas showing Dickenson's challenging of certain Romantic notions causing a lack of belonging on her part. The use of the word lain in "when one who died for truth was lain" expresses a tone of admiration towards someone who has also died for their values, connecting the two personas. A dash is strategically placed before "the two are one" to emphasise the importance of this line showing the male persona's acceptance of the narrator by connecting their values.

'I died for beauty but was scarce'

Please note that the following post is my perception and remains MY perception, as such sweet class-men/women, Judge tenderly of me !

Belonging:
The beginning line,"I died for beauty, but was scarce", suggests that the persona refused to give up beauty (as we have discussed in class it is a symbolism for Art/poetry) which is limited and "scarce". It may be to reveal that it is the most important value of the persona and is maintained until death. This to a moderate extent reveals that the persona does not desire to belong by compromising and forfeiting their treasured value, in this case the beauty(art). The use of rhetorical question in the line,"He questioned softly why I failed?", engages the reader and allow the time for self reflection of the ideas presented in the first stanza. The "failed" may also be to symbolise the persona's inadequacy to reach a sense of belonging. However, in the later lines, "the two are one; We brethren are", suggests that through sustaining of one's value, at some point individuals will reach a state of harmony. But in the final stanza this idea is challenged through the symbolism in the lines, "until the moss had reached our lips, And covered up our names". The line, "moss had reached our lips", suggests that attachment through shared values and not compromisation does not advance as the "moss" will reach their lips. This would soon cover up the "name" and identity of the individuals and as a result bring a conclusion to the individual's existence.(eg: death/ denial of belonging)

It should be noted that in order to acheive a sense of belonging it is inevitable to sacrifice a part of individuality to allow compromisation between individuals. This would create somewhat of a mutual understanding between the individuals and is what would enable them to experience a sense of belonging and acceptance. The desire to maintain the important individual value can been seen as hubris and what ultimately prevents acceptance. It can also suggest the notion of fear of rejection by others which lead to self-isolation and the failure to obtain a sense of belonging. The impression of obtaining "true-belonging" from shared values causes individuals to uphold their values which may lead to conflict or death. This consequently restricts individuals from permeating and denies the possibilities for innovation and change in union.

I died for beauty but was scarce

This poem uses Emily Dickinson's context to explore the concept of belonging seeing as she herself died for beauty.

It is suggested that the speaker did not compromise before his/her death however after being buried, he/she is able to develop a kinship with a fellow corpse... They talk into the night 'Until the moss had reached our lips', the word 'moss' may be symbolic of nature that they were consumed by before their death leaving them to become silent. This metaphor emphasises the suffering both speakers experienced for standing by their Art and integrity, however, in the end it is suggested that they are forgotten for the moss had covered up their names which represents their existence as unimportant to the society they had once lived in.

I died for beauty

Hello people=) I just did a little analysis sort of. Well i do kinda talk about death, but really i tried to avoid as much as possible (after today's incident!) Well, hope this helps!

Some random bit-Dickinson's poem is an allegorical death fantasy and resembles Keat's Ode on a Grecian Urn, however the matter of presentation is completely her own style. Dickinson incorporates a sense of macabre physicality of death, high idealism of martyrdom and a yearning fot Platonic companionship. This poem conveys both notions of alienation and belonging.

Alienation:
The poem conveys the persona's yearning to belong through the persona seeking companionship but this gives way to the moss that creeps up the speaker's corpse as seen in "Until the moss had reached our lips, & covered up our names". Here, the moss obliterates the persona's capacity to speak who ultimately losses their identity through the symbolic verbatim "Covered up our names". The sounds of the poem with the alliteration of "f" sounds in "softly why I failed" and the "m" and "n" sounds of the last stanza create a calm an soothing atmosphere, which helps relieve the sad suggestion that in time their stand for truth and beauty, and they themselves will be forgotten.

Belonging:
The proximity of the headstones show that the two speakers belong together. This is further supporte by the change in use of personal pronoun "I" to "we" as the poem progresses conveys that the persona belongs as seen in "We brethren are" where truth and beauty are personified as brothers. Furthermore, alhtough both beauty and truth symbolically lose their identity evident through "covered up our names" they belong together as they both lose identity together and therefore belongign transcends death.