What do you think of my interpretation of Dickinson's 'I died for Beauty'? (1 Viewer)

[Dragonmaster262]

My teacher said it was good but I'm not too sure if I should stick with it. What do you guys think?

Here it is:

[FONT=&quot]Dickinson was an incredibly abstract thinker and showed a unique insight into contexts of different eras despite her isolation. She contemplated about notions which were deemed ‘out of her time’ and the poem ‘I died for Beauty’ concerns a lot to do with the aspects of time. Due to this fact the poem can be interpreted in the contexts of past, present and future.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Context (Past): [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The use of the personified forms of death and beauty suggest that the poem was written in a romantic style. Before Dickinson’s time, during the fourteenth century, there was a great growth of the origins romanticism in a period known as the Renaissance. Before the Renaissance the Church was the undisputed power because they claimed that they were the word of God. The Philosophers of the Renaissance claimed that the Church was only made to look good but were largely only working in their own interest and not helping the general public. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Interpretation (Past):[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Dickinson’s poem is about Beauty (the Church) and Truth (the Philosophers) and how they’re at their death beds after failing. Failing implies dying and symbolically shows how the Church ‘failed’ in their cause because they during the Renaissance their power dwindled as a majority of society began to embrace the notions of the philosophers. However as time passed by the ideals of the philosophers were forgotten as people embraced the more greedy and materialistic Modern era. Truth was thrown in the cemetery next to Beauty in the poem. Despite the fact that the two had contrasting ideals they still had a common goal: to make the world into what they believed was a ‘better’ society so they can said to be ‘brethren’.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Context (Present):[/FONT][FONT=&quot] During Dickinson’s own time she has to suffer the burden of seeing many of the friends and family that she loved die before her eyes. She usually had to go live with surviving relatives who comforted her about her misfortunes. This traumatised her and caused her to imbue some of her despondent emotions in her poetry.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Interpretation (Present): [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Dickinson was constantly being comforted about her dilemmas from her family and friends. They yearned for her to have a happy and comfortable life (which can be said to be beauty). Dickinson tried to live a happy life but in the end she decided that she couldn’t escape reality (Truth). Since Dickinson accepted the truth of her miserable life she soon began to accept other truths of society; that the world was not perfect and that misfortunes befell upon anyone, including good people. Such ideals were expressed in her poems but they were highly edited because mainstream society just didn’t want to accept the truth. Dickinson was rejected from society due to this innovative quality. So in the end Beauty and Truth were both ignored and forgotten by society as ‘the moss covered up their names’.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Context (Future):[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Dickinson was a woman who was very similar to the women of the present era so she might have been able to predict what future society would have been like. By the late twentieth century social attention was caught up in the rise of popular culture and everyone yearned for the materials and luxuries that were deemed to make somebody accepted and fitted in society.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Interpretation (Future): [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Different features of fashion that were used by celebrities werein high demand from a majority of the members of the general public during the late twentieth century. Dickinson might have been able to hypothesise this and deduced that majority of mainstream society would want to become just like the celebrities that they admired so they tried to copy their traits and characteristics. Everyone sought jewels and clothes (Beauty) which they believed could help them develop an identity that they would be content with. Buying such luxuries could psychologically alter the way that an individual’s mind functions. The environment would change them until they lose their contact with their original identities (Truth) and embrace new identities which they would not really become content with but with don in order to become accepted members of society.[/FONT]

 

[Ethanescence]

My teacher said it was good but I'm not too sure if I should stick with it. What do you guys think?

Here it is:

[FONT=&quot]Dickinson was an incredibly abstract thinker and showed a unique insight into contexts of different eras despite her isolation. She contemplated about notions which were deemed ‘out of her time’ and the poem ‘I died for Beauty’ concerns a lot to do with the aspects of time. Due to this fact the poem can be interpreted in the contexts of past, present and future.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Context (Past): [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The use of the personified forms of death and beauty suggest that the poem was written in a romantic style. Before Dickinson’s time, during the fourteenth century, there was a great growth of the origins romanticism in a period known as the Renaissance. Before the Renaissance the Church was the undisputed power because they claimed that they were the word of God. The Philosophers of the Renaissance claimed that the Church was only made to look good but were largely only working in their own interest and not helping the general public. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Interpretation (Past):[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Dickinson’s poem is about Beauty (the Church) and Truth (the Philosophers) and how they’re at their death beds after failing. Failing implies dying and symbolically shows how the Church ‘failed’ in their cause because they during the Renaissance their power dwindled as a majority of society began to embrace the notions of the philosophers. However as time passed by the ideals of the philosophers were forgotten as people embraced the more greedy and materialistic Modern era. Truth was thrown in the cemetery next to Beauty in the poem. Despite the fact that the two had contrasting ideals they still had a common goal: to make the world into what they believed was a ‘better’ society so they can said to be ‘brethren’.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Context (Present):[/FONT][FONT=&quot] During Dickinson’s own time she has to suffer the burden of seeing many of the friends and family that she loved die before her eyes. She usually had to go live with surviving relatives who comforted her about her misfortunes. This traumatised her and caused her to imbue some of her despondent emotions in her poetry.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Interpretation (Present): [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Dickinson was constantly being comforted about her dilemmas from her family and friends. They yearned for her to have a happy and comfortable life (which can be said to be beauty). Dickinson tried to live a happy life but in the end she decided that she couldn’t escape reality (Truth). Since Dickinson accepted the truth of her miserable life she soon began to accept other truths of society; that the world was not perfect and that misfortunes befell upon anyone, including good people. Such ideals were expressed in her poems but they were highly edited because mainstream society just didn’t want to accept the truth. Dickinson was rejected from society due to this innovative quality. So in the end Beauty and Truth were both ignored and forgotten by society as ‘the moss covered up their names’.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Context (Future):[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Dickinson was a woman who was very similar to the women of the present era so she might have been able to predict what future society would have been like. By the late twentieth century social attention was caught up in the rise of popular culture and everyone yearned for the materials and luxuries that were deemed to make somebody accepted and fitted in society.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Interpretation (Future): [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Different features of fashion that were used by celebrities werein high demand from a majority of the members of the general public during the late twentieth century. Dickinson might have been able to hypothesise this and deduced that majority of mainstream society would want to become just like the celebrities that they admired so they tried to copy their traits and characteristics. Everyone sought jewels and clothes (Beauty) which they believed could help them develop an identity that they would be content with. Buying such luxuries could psychologically alter the way that an individual’s mind functions. The environment would change them until they lose their contact with their original identities (Truth) and embrace new identities which they would not really become content with but with don in order to become accepted members of society.[/FONT]

You've gone off the point a bit. It would be better if you supported your analysis with quotations and poetic techniques that helped to communicate the issues that you identified, rather than just linking back to the themes of the poem in brackets.

I also think you should focus on the connection between the speaker of the poem and the person in the adjoining room, as that symbolises belonging on many levels. I also liked your interpretation of "beauty" as a superficial realisation of identity (e.g. celebrities), but I think you should condense your ideas and make them supported by quotations from the poem itself.

Edit: I also feel you should focus less on trying to generalise Dickinson's experiences and her perspective on life, and instead merely address the poem and what ideas it is communicating.

 

[Dragonmaster262]

Yeah it lacks support I know.

But basically this is just an outline. I have the proof and stuff but couldn't add them all in since our english teacher set a limit to our interpretations length.

 

[Ethanescence]

Yeah it lacks support I know.

But basically this is just an outline. I have the proof and stuff but couldn't add them all in since our english teacher set a limit to our interpretations length.

Still, even with a word limit and without textual support/quotes you should at least mentioned a few techniques beyond the basics such as personification. Literary/poetic techniques are vital to interpreting poems, as without them the poem isn't effective. You have to look at the rhyme scheme, the meter, the punctuation (or lack thereof), the syntax and the visual contrasts/imagery.

Part of why Emily Dickinson is considered 'abstract' is because of her syntax. For example...

"And I for truth, the two are one;
We brethren are,"

No one speaks like that in real life; a person would normally say "we are brethren". And because "brethren" indicates a connection, that again relates back to belonging. Dickinson often uses highly conscious syntax to subtly reinforce her ideas - I remember studying "The saddest noise noise, the sweetest noise" for my HSC and the last word of the poem was (ironically) "near". "Near" would normally indicate closeness and a sense of belonging, but since it was the last word of the poem it changed the entire meaning of the word.

 

[Dragonmaster262]

Yeah it was sort of a speech and so I just wrote down my main ideas and memorised quotes and techniques but thanks anyway.

 

[Ethanescence]

Yeah it was sort of a speech and so I just wrote down my main ideas and memorised quotes and techniques but thanks anyway.

No problem. And good luck.

 

[Dragonmaster262]

Hey can Ethanescene upload any notes you have of Emily Dickinson's poems to the Resources section?

 

[Ethanescence]

Hey can Ethanescene upload any notes you have of Emily Dickinson's poems to the Resources section?

I'll see what I can find on my computer.