Emmily Dickinson’s ‘IM WIFE’

            Dickinson’s poems have been embraced by society as different in their perception of the world during her life period. It can be concluded that her poems simply record thoughts and feelings experienced naturally over the course of a lifetime devoted to reflection and creativity. They not only sought to describe the society and its then gnomes, but also to a larger extent the lifestyle as well as the environment surrounding the poet. In this particular poem, the poet outlines society and its perception of women. This particular poem outlines the role of woman as ‘wife’ for this is how society perceived her. In her observation of married women, the poet saw the failing health, the unmet demands, the absenting of self that was part of the then husband-wife relationship as etched by society. The whole poem can then be concluded to have been a big criticism of the life that a woman would live as a wife rather than as a woman (Noble et.al, p.181).

            By observing the poem’s language, tone as well as structure, one can conclude that the poet indeed knew a lot on poetry writing. She has been able in this poem to create not only a perfect rhyme scheme, but also perfect sentence patterns that are able to reinforce the whole poem into three perfect stanzas (White et.al, p. 27). She also applies poetic styles such as alliterations in the case of wife and woman and assonance as was the case in eclipse and earth to highlight her points.

Based on her bibliography, it is evident that the poem greatly touched on her life considering the fact that she was not married yet has a great gender activist. This poem could also have spun from the fact that her brother’s own miserable marriage may have left a ‘bad taste’, thus the poem. Despite this fact, the poem does offer the reader a glimpse into that particular society by clearly outlining that while the role did not satisfy most radicalized women such as the poet, it was greatly valued as revered by the women in that particular society (Grabheret.al, p. 98). Thus those with extremely radical ideas such as the poet did not stand a chance in marriage. In fact, it can be correctly assumed that the publication of this particular poem must have been very scandalous to the women of that particular society.

            Given the position of the woman in that particular setting, it would be no small wonder that the poet outlines that that there is a ‘Czar’ (Gischler, p. 3). A person who is domineering and commanding and one she wishes would be. Through this point, the poet sees the world as a power struggle between the powerful and controlling and the meek and helpless who then have to follower meekly those in power or face the wrath.

            Throughout the whole poem, it would seem that there is a struggle with the woman and the role she has been relegated to as a wife as well as the dominance of her husband in the relationship. Yet at the conclusion of the poem there is a sense of helplessness that is observed. The poet finishes by stating that ‘But why compare? I'm "Wife"! Stop there!’ (Kuribayashi et.al, p. 104) This can be interpreted in two ways, the fact is that the poet is resigned to her fate as a wife and the second could be that she is being commanded to desist from her ranting by either her husband or society.

            Thus, the poem concludes that a girl's life is intended from the start to be "behind this soft eclipse"(Gischler, p. 5), which can be interpreted as wicked societal enforcements masquerading as a false sense of safety. This particular poem shows us a woman who dared defy the society in which she was living in by boldly outlining its doings making the themes of the poem to be suffering and loneliness for the woman in that society whichever her status.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Gischler, Katrin. Gender Identities in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson and in the Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2007. Internet resource.

Grabher, Gudrun, Roland Hagenbüchle, and Cristanne Miller. The Emily Dickinson Handbook. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998. Print.

Kuribayashi, Tomoko, and Julie A. Tharp. Creating Safe Space: Violence and Women's Writing. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. Print.

Noble, Marianne, Jed Deppman, and Gary L. Stonum. Emily Dickinson and Philosophy. , 2013. Print.

White, Fred D. Approaching Emily Dickinson: Critical Currents and Crosscurrents Since 1960. Rochester, N.Y: Camden House, 2008. Print.