Emily Dickinson – Page 12 – Interesting Literature

A Short Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s ‘The Heart asks Pleasure first’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Heart asks Pleasure – first’ is poem number 536 in Emily Dickinson’s Complete Poems. Its title was used by the composer Michael Nyman for his soundtrack to the 1993 film The Piano (even if you’re not familiar with Dickinson’s poem or with the film, you may recognise this piece of music). Below is ‘The Heart asks Pleasure first’ (as we may as well call it) along with a short analysis of this enigmatic little poem.

The Heart asks Pleasure – first –
And then – Excuse from Pain –
And then – those little Anodynes
That deaden suffering –

A Short Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s ‘I heard a Fly buzz – when I died’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Death is a theme that looms large in the poetry of Emily Dickinson (1830-86), and perhaps no more so than in the celebrated poem of hers that begins ‘I heard a Fly buzz – when I died’. This is not just a poem about death: it’s a poem about the event of death, the moment of dying. Below is the poem, and a brief analysis of its language and meaning.

10 of the Best Emily Dickinson Poems Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Reducing Emily Dickinson’s 1,700+ poems to a list of the ten greatest poems she wrote is not an easy task and is, perhaps, a foolhardy one. Nevertheless, her wonderful Complete Poems (which we’d strongly recommend) runs to nearly 800 pages, so where is the beginner to … well, begin?

A Short Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s ‘I’m Nobody! Who are you?’

One of Dickinson’s best-loved short lyrics: an analysis

‘I’m Nobody! Who are you?’ is one of Emily Dickinson’s best-known poems, and one of her most celebrated opening lines, and as opening lines go, it’s wonderfully striking and memorable. The opening line features in our pick of the best Emily Dickinson quotations.

What follows is the poem, followed by a brief analysis of its meaning and features.

A Short Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s ‘Hope is the thing with feathers’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Only Emily Dickinson could open a poem with a line like ‘“Hope” is the thing with feathers’, a line which features in our pick of the best Emily Dickinson quotations. Poets before her had compared hope to a bird, but ‘thing with feathers’ was a peculiarly Dickinsonian touch. Here is this great little poem by Dickinson, along with a short analysis of it.