Poetry Analysis 2

There are many strategies by which poets increase the effect of their words and one of those is the repetition of words, images, sounds and the like. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, show how various kinds of repetition have allowed poets to heighten their meaning.

Words and phrases in Emily Dickinson’s poems are always concise and strong. In the poem “I Dwell in Possibility--”, the repetitions of sounds and images convey the poet’s clear praise for poetries. Rather than talking about family or nature, “I Dwell in Possibility--” discusses more about “poetry” itself and the poet’s thoughts about poetry. It is a poem about the possibilities in poetries that the speaker can always keep imagining and creating when composing her work.

The most obvious stylistic feature Dickinson uses is the repetition of similar sounds, such as “prose” “doors” “eye” “sky” “hands” and “paradise”. These words either sounds alike or have the same consonant “s”. In the first stanza, the speaker claims that poetry is more beautiful and unlimited as opposed to prose. “A fairer House than Prose -/ More numerous of Windows -/ Superior - for Doors -” indicates that poetry has more windows and doors open for access, for various interpretations and opinions. The words “prose” and “doors” are used to emphasize that poetry has wider space, whereas prose is default -- thus it is more closed and limited. The “s” sound in the stanza actually conveys a sense of fluent moving in the context, which makes the poem more natural and free.

In the second stanza, the poet instead focuses solely on poetry. She reiterates the wildness of poetry by using different metaphors. The lines “Of Chambers as the Cedars -/ Impregnable of eye -/ And for an everlasting Roof/ The Gambrels of the Sky -” demonstrate that poetry is not only like a house with windows and doors, but also can be considered as a garden and part of nature. The words “eye” and “Sky” are pronounced similarly, which help the readers pay attention on the poetry’s limitlessness, for “Sky” is vast and distant, and the “eye” can never reach the edge of the “Sky” -- there is no upper boundary except the seemingly endless sky.

In the last stanza, the poet states that the poetry readers are both in well judgement and beauty with “the fairest” eyes. The “Visitors” can easily access or exit the “House” of poetry. The word “fair” is used again in this stanza in a different form, therefore the poet is able to emphasize that the limitlessness of poetry is due to the fact that everyone is welcomed to the “House”. And the visitor’s appearance “wide [her] narrow hands” means that the readers also contribute to the unlimited poetries. The consonant “s” sound in this stanza is still obvious, where “Visitors” “This” “spreading” “Hands” and “Paradise” also create a feeling of wilderness of the poetry.

The fluent transition of the “s” sound, the repetition of the similar sounds, and the related images work together to describe the limitlessness of poetry, which Dickinson herself values it the most in opposition to prose. There is definitely a rhyme scheme in the poem, but the poet follows it loosely -- it also highlights the point that poetry is unlimited and has many possibilities.