The Dashing Young Woman
We have all heard the term “dashing young man.” I would like to introduce you to a “dashing young woman,” the poet, Emily Dickinson. Dickinson’s poetry has a remarkable influence in American literature. She was born in 1830 and died in 1886. Most of her works were discovered after her death, and it was then when she became famous (Perkins and Perkins 89 – 90). The poem, ‘We Grow Accustomed to the Dark’ is one of her poems that were found untitled, and numbered as #419. Using original wordplay, unexpected rhymes, and abrupt line breaks, she bends literary conventions. Among her poetic devices were dashes, used as a pause and capitalization for emphasis” (Elizabeth A. Stackler Center for Feminist Art). Dickinson also uses imagery to stimulate the imagination.
‘We Grow Accustomed to the Dark’ doesn’t conform to standard poetic forms at all.
We grow accustomed to the Dark—
When light is put away—
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye—
A Moment—We uncertain step
For newness of the night—
Then—fit our Vision to the Dark—
And meet the Road—erect—
And so of larger—Darkness—
Those Evenings of the Brain—
When not a Moon disclose a sign—
Or Star—come out—within—
The Bravest—grope a little—
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead—
But as they learn to see—
Either the Darkness alters—
Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight—
And Life steps almost straight. (Poetry...
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