I years had been from home

By King Meera -
EMILY DICKINSON

http://www.proseandhistory.com/i-years-had-been-from-home/
http://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/1646/I_Years_had_been_from_Home
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155
http://www.biography.com/people/emily-dickinson-9274190

Experience of death - wow I want to jump into the ocean
Introspection
No title - open to interpretation, audience left looking for themes
Obscure entries or exits, readers intrigued

<TRUTH IS BEAUTY IS TRUTH > like Keats
<TIME - could not stop for death>
<SELECT AND CHOOSE>

 writing back = working with an established center that we are bound to
appropriation = when you analyze how another culture's artifacts work for them and see if they'll work for you
                    = artistic survival strategies
preservation vs conservation
                      ^like a particular genre of music - look for 
^take from past and keep it as it is
Emily Dickinson was from Amherst - in New England - notorious for extreme conservatism
New England clung onto its English identity
She was a recluse

Read up on Robert Frost's Silken Tent

According to E.D. intense solitude and disengagement from society is death

Style: 6 stanzas, 4 lines each
very neat - audible rhythm, hymn form, lyrical
Begins the poem with I - does not bother being relatable - very individual and personal
Uses dash instead of ellipse
Notion of home - public, personal, private - representation of self and identity - judging antecedents and upbringing - one does not mask oneself at home

"I years had been from home" - self-exile
De familiarization - within a known area, finding something unknown
Legitimate fear of not having HOME (memories) to return to, of having changed, of not fitting in anymore.

Fumbling nerves
Wooden laugh - creaking, hollow, mirthless - profound fear of door <imprisonment, sealing her off, represents security to some
I fitted to the latch <she is inanimate, door takes control
Trembling care - fear, pain is the only real, individual feeling
<because happiness and gaiety comes from outside
Sensuous image - delicate as glass

when everything is taken from us, we have only the Self left
-this is death
-death while alive
-surrender of social construct
-this is a good thing

Some keep the Sabbath
Because I could not stop for death
I died for beauty

QUICK RECAP WITH BHAVANI MA'AM:

  • if I return will I be welcomed
  • return - to life or to society
  • E.D. was a recluse, had depression, was psychologically affected
  • door represents entry and exit
  • hesitates because of prospect of disapproval
  • remember phrases

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Atticus Passage

By King Meera -
This handout was prepared by Dr. William Tarvin, a retired professor of literature.  Note:  Text used:  W. H. Abrams, ed.   The Norton Anthology of English Literature , 7 th             ed.  Vol. 1.  New York:  Norton, 2000. I.    INTRODUCTION             1.   Dr. Arbuthnot was hopelessly ill and had written Pope a “last request” that the poet should continue to attack vice in his satires.               2.   This poem, basically written during the summer of 1734, was published in Jan. 1735, less than two months before Arbuthnot’s (1667-1735) death.             3.   Arbuthnot was Queen Anne’s favorite doctor and later held a similar relation to Princess Caroline, who in 1727 beca...
Read more

Lajwanti by Rajinder Singh Bedi

By King Meera -
Here is my write-up (assignment) (imperfect) (scored 15 on 20) (done for the sake of doing it) (many apologies) : The chapter Lajwanti by Rajinder Singh Bedi is set in the wake of the India-Pakistan Partition – specifically, the abduction of women on either side of the border. During the Partition, tens of thousands of Hindus and Muslims were forced to pack and leave, because suddenly, allegiance to one’s country was based on religion. Families who had been living on the “wrong” side of the border since generations had to migrate, at moment’s notice, to their “homeland”. In the midst of all this pain, anguish, separation and large-scale identity crises, displaced people began attacking the “enemies” – through thefts, violence and abductions, as was the case with the protagonist Sunder Lal, and his wife Lajwanti, who was abducted. In brief, the story Lajwanti is as such: Sunder Lal, after losing his wife Lajwanti to abductors, and abandoning all hope of finding her again, pu...
Read more

Jurmana - Premchand

By King Meera -
Image
Characters: 1. Munshi Khairat Ali Khan (Inspector of Sanitation) Goodhearted, well thought of, not the kind to cut pay, scold or fine the hundreds of sweeper women who depends on him 2. Alarakkhi (sweeper woman) Worked hard (was not a shirker, not slovenly or saucy, didn't look bad either) just had bad luck - the Inspector rode by precisely when she'd just sat down or stopped to eat 3. Alarakkhi's sick, unweaned daughter 4. Alarakkhi's helpful husband Huseni Plot: Alarakkhi is thinking about her pay and guessing how much would be deducted this time  considering, due to her daughter's illness, she'd been missed sleep and come in late several times the past month. Her daughter, whom she had brought with her to work, was wailing and she was threatening to hit her with the broom if she didn't stay quiet because the Inspector would be there soon. The inspector arrived on his bicycle instead of his ekka just as she was cursing him. He asks her why she ...
Read more