In Emily Dickinson's This is my Letter to the World, Dickinson portrays a desire for acceptance and connection. The physical and natural world created provides a sanction for the persona to belong. Dickinson's connection to Nature can be seen through her emphasis of Nature with the use of capitalisation in, "The simple news that Nature told."
When Dickinson writes, "that never (the world) wrote to me,--" a caesura is used to disrupt the general flow of the poem which shows her detachment from society and her awareness of her isolation.
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From Agnes:
How does the poem convey notions of belonging?
Emily Dickinson’s ‘This is my letter to the world’ seemingly conveys her yearning and desperation to gain acceptance and approval of others. Dickinson’s yearning for acceptance can be seen through the declamatory statement and wistful tone of “This is my letter to the world, / That never wrote to me,--”. This alludes to the fact that, although the world “never wrote”, she still remains the one to reach out with her letter and initiate correspondence. Her vulnerability and desperation can also be seen through the pleading tone of “For love of her, sweet countrymen, / Judge tenderly of me!” in which flattery and the conveyance of shared values of Nature are used to gain approval, while her humble tone appeals to the reader’s pathos.
The poem encompasses Dickinson's seclusion from the wider world and her love of nature. The bitter/resigned tone of "never wrote to me--" reveals that the world has not been generous in acknowledging her and perhaps all she desires is to be judged tenderly.
The personification of nature may also serve to emphasise the unimportance of human interaction in her life and by Dickinson saying that nature speaks with "tender majesty" it shows her reverence of nature and her love of the natural world.
Emily Dickinson shows in this poem her strong sense of belonging to nature but also not belonging to humans.
"The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty"
shows her sense of belonging to nature while the world never wrote to her. The lines suggest that nature speaks to her with tender majesty, kindness and understanding that she hasn't been able to achieve with society.
Nature is personified here showing the extent of her alienation from humans but her connection with nature.
"Her message is committed"
breaks the 8 and 6 syllanle pattern which puts emphasis on on this line and her hope to belong with society in the future through her letter.
Emily Dickinson explores different notions of belonging in the poem “This is my letter to the world”. Dickinson conveys the concept of belonging through the constant reference of Nature, and the connection she confirms to. “The simple news that Nature told” suggests the idea that Dickinson feels she has a certain connection of belonging with Nature, in such a way that Nature talks to her and tells her messages. The concept of not belonging is also explored through this poem. “This is my letter to the world, That never wrote to me,--“suggests the alienation Dickinson feels she has, and the awareness of the barrier between herself and the world.
In the poem ‘This is my letter to the world' the poet's syntax initiates a sense of detachment from society as she disregards the norms of sentence structure. Dickinson's caesura in, "That never wrote to me,--" creates fragmentation that emphasises strong emotions of seclusion. Her personification in the line, "The simple news that Nature told me," can be perceived as a reference to the Romantic value of believing that the self and Nature were one, enhancing their feelings of belonging predominantly through self-awareness. Despite her society’s collective value of nature, Dickinson outlines her desire for acceptance in the exclamatory phrase, “Judge tenderly of me!” emphasising her isolation from a society as a female poet, as she believes her society has restrained roles.
In Emily Dickinson's 'This is my letter to the world', Dickinson explores several notions of belonging. Dickinson attempts to achieve mutual significance by exploring notions of belonging through shared values. Dickinson's personification of nature in '...that Nature told..." emphasises her reverence towards nature and thus her willingness to belong to such a notion. As our values often form a part of our identity, by Dickinson appealing for the acceptance of her ideas, she is in effect attempting to gain acceptance as a person; as well as acceptance through identity and shared values.
Dickinson employs a variety of persuasive techniques to flatter her audience in order to get her point across. Adjectives such as 'tender' and 'sweet' are used to help gain understanding from the responders. Dickinson perhaps employs such devices as she understands the nature of the society she lives in –this is potentially ironic, as understanding is the key to belonging.
EDIT: Had to fix some typos, deleted and reposted same thing.
The poem is primarily exploring the notion of belonging by describing the feelings of NOT belonging (to society). It explores this through the persona's almost melancholic, perhaps wistful tone in the opening two lines. Utilising a simple rhyme scheme, the trivial "sing-song" rhythm contrasts with this melancholic tone. This disconnects, or rather, re-enforces the disconnection between the persona and reader. In doing so, the persona demonstrates a feeling of not belonging to society. However, whilst the surface layer is about not belonging to society, the deeper level is showing a connection and belonging of the persona to nature. Through the personification - blah blah blah.
(I was more interested in exploring the Not belonging part)
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