Please read the following poem by Emily Dickinson and respond to the questions below:
That never wrote to me,
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.
Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!
What inferences could you make from this poem about Emily Dickinson as a poet and a person? Examine also her picture above and comment on her expression, clothing, and/or overall appearance. How does she strike you?
18 comments:
I think that she is telling the world that she cares about it even if the favor isnt returned.She also doesn't want herself or her letter to be judged by her fellow peers. It sounds as if she is passing on the message of Nature to all humankind.
Picture: Appears well dressed, but she is very expressionless. She looks pale and and somewhat bored. There is a book next to her right elbow. Did she just finish writing or reading?
I feel this poem is a twist on the idiom 'always tell the truth.' Dickinson thinks that there is no way to fully tell the truth, the way it is needed to be told. Unless we act through children's eyes no person will see and act the way they must, they will otherwise become blind.
From this poem I can infer that Emily Dickinson was a person who has a lot of faith. In writing a letter to the world 'that never wrote to me' it is made clear that she holds enough confidence in the world to not only write to it, but to rely on the 'hands i cannot see'. As a poet I can see that she cares very much for perfection, since every line flows perfectly, not one syllable out of place.
From the picture it seems that she is probably the kind of person who gets her emotions out in her poetry rather than in a verbal way. This seems to be the case just because her posture, clothing and facial expression all make her seem very introverted. It appears almost as if she is keeping a secret from the camera, one that she can only put onto paper.
From what I can tell, it seems Dickinson loves nature, and it seems she wishes for the world to not be so hard on her. I can infer this from the fact that Nature is the only capitalized word that doesn't start a line of her poem. It's a rather short poem, so it's difficult to analyze. If you notice the first and last lines, and ignore the rest like we did in class, it appears more like she is submitting her letter to the world, and wishes the world to be sensitive to her. Also, if you notice, the word 'tender' is repeated twice. It seems that Dickinson is a fragile person, or considers the world graceful and motherly
From this poem I can infer that Emuly Dickinson loved the world even if they didnt always love her back. She wanted to tell what she thought and didnt care what her peers had to say about it. She looks almost like a nun. With the dark, plain clothes right to the severe hair. Her face is almost void of anything. I suppose she kept all of her emotion to her poetry. She seems almost cold and lifeless.
Emily Dickinson's poem seemed to have a kind of melancholy tone to it because of the line, "That never wrote to me." She seemed sad and a little alone, like she was writing to the world instead of just a single person, hence the title. The part that said, "for love of her, sweet countrymen," made me wonder who the "her" was, and my first guess was perhaps a relative of a close friend.
The picture of Emily made me think that she wasn't complete; she seemed to have something missing, like she was socially starving. Her pale skin might hint that she was sick, since she was also extremely thin. She does not look very happy in this photo.
This poem was a challenge for me to interpret in its entirety, yet I still think I got the general message. Here, Dickinson expresses her inherent dislike of the world. Contrary to what everyone else is saying, I really think she doesn't embrace society or humanity in general. Just from the first few lines, this becomes apparent. Take a look at how Dickinson makes “her own way”. She reveals that the world has failed her and that she has taken the liberty of creating a new life, void of any outside forces. She acts alone, as she cannot understand the "The simple news that Nature told, With tender majesty. Her message is committed To hands I cannot see;" Desperately, she appeals to the general public to judge "tenderly" of her. She fears that her seclusion and different customs might provoke conflict on her behalf. Essentially, it must be inferred that Dickinson was almost a recluse. She must have lived a very private and confined life; just look at that conservative attire, it's like she's in the 1700s!
I think that Emily Dickinson might be trying to exemplify is how she loves the Earth dearly, but her race (man kind) is treating the Earth so horribly that Mother Nature can't truly see how much she cares about the Earth. The picture displayed of Ms. Dickinson shows her sophisticated stature and her expression seems to tell you that she is somewhat happy, but could be happier for some reason.
To me, Emily Dickenson almost seems to be begging for mercy in this poem. Instead of asking for humanity to plead apology, due to the last lines, “For love of her, sweet countrymen,/Judge tenderly of me!” it seems as if she is trying to ask for forgiveness from the world. Based upon the first couple of lines, I inferred that she committed a crime against man, most likely something that harmed the in a very basic way. For instance, she could be asking for forgiveness for not doing her part in society. The way she capitalizes Nature, I assumed that it referred to the nature of mankind, like man is nature and nature is man. Therefore, by committing a crime against man, she committed a crime against nature. By saying “For love of her” in reference to Nature, she is saying that for the sake of man and society, forgive her and pardon not only her sins but all sins of man.
Her picture contradicts this however. Instead of looking sorry for something, she tends to look a bit like “I have a secret, so ha!” For someone who wants forgiveness, she seems pretty smug with herself. Her clothes, though, reflect grief as they are black and very of the covering of any skin kind.
Firstly, her poem seems so smooth. It's as if she were writing this poem in a feild of daisys, and wanted to capture the meaning of life as she saw it right at the time. I think she is saying that even tho she doesn't know everything and no one might tell her anything, if you listen to the world it will tell you everything. She looks like a really modest woman and very secluded. Her expression seems almost caught off gaurd as if surprised. Maybe she was so attentive to detail that everything caught her by surprise.
The way this poem was written reveals to me that Emily Dickinson had a kind of lonely, lost woman. The line “That never wrote to me” sends a somber message to the reader that she was a lonely person and her several references to nature make it seem that she may have filled the lonely gap she felt, with nature. Her picture somewhat contradicts this idea though, because she has such pale skin. She just seems very proper and hidden because her expression doesn’t reveal much. She seems to just have a blank expression, not revealing much about her, like there is something hidden behind how put together she comes across.
Emily Dickinson, based on her appearance and poem, strikes me as someone who was a bit underestimated. Her poem reveals that the world views her as weak,and that she herself sees her as far inferior to the overpowering forces of the world. Through her picture, she looks as though she is timid, and someone who can be easily controlled. However, by the end of the poem, she reveals that she is part of nature and has the potential to be just as powerful.
The portrait of Emily Dickinson is kind of intersting, seeing as that you are drawn immediately to her pale face. Her body seems kind of rigid, as if she has a board against her back. But her figure doesn't match the simplicity and beauty of her poem. Her poem is one that a young, kind looking lady would write on a warm summer day. It is as if she has a poetic soul that i being restrained and kept in a thin, frail looking woman's body. I think that her poem is saying that Mother NAtue is fed up with the sins and crimes of humanity. She is trying to "get rid of human" (in a sense) in the most loving way. Emily is crying out to Nature, hoping she will be spared. I believe that Emily would get out of the mess alive, but she would never mess with Mother Nature.
I think that she is expressing her concern and love for the world but also through the line "judge me tenderly" she is expressing her want for the world to see her as she is instead of judging her based on their standards. In the picture, I think she looks kind of shy and a bit reserved but her face looks ernest and honest.
I think that this poem kind of shows how Emily Dickenson thinks that the people in the world are more concerned about themselves rather than about the world as a whole. She is kind of saying that we need to care more about the majesties of the world.
Her picture shows her kind of rigidly sitting in a chair. She seems like she was kind of forced into sitting for this picture. It kind of seems like she has a lot of structure. Her face is kind of pale and this kind of strikes you because it seems like she is older than she really is. Also her black dress makes her seem kind of like a sad person. I think that having this image with the poem is interesting to try and figure out who she is.
I think Emily Dickinson is an amazing poet; she conveys so much in just a few words. The poem seems to show that she understood the world but she herself felt incredibly misunderstood. The picture of her looks dark and dreary. She doesn't look happy; she just looks like she is there. Neutral. The picture seems sad.
I think that this poem shows how Dickinson felt a really great connection with nature, based on lines such as the one about its majesty.
I feel that there's also a feeling of lonliness, like nature is all she has. She connects with it because she can't with other people, maybe?
I infer that Emily, like it has been said, loves nature deeply. I think she is also saying that Nature has a message for those who would like to listen. Since Emily loves nature so much, the countrymen “judge tenderly” of her. Nature is almost a supreme being to her.
By Emily’s picture I feel that she is alone, by her empty stare. Also it seems like she does not get out much because of the pale color of her face. In addition, she seems very withdrawn and outcast due to the dark nature of her outfit.
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