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"This is my letter to the world" is a poem by the American poet Emily Dickinson, written around 1862. Like many of Dickinson’s poems, it is compact and enigmatic. In a broad sense, the poem is about isolation and communication: the speaker expresses deep frustration that he or she is unable to communicate with the "World."
- Summary
- Themes
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Detailed Analysis
- Similar Poetry
In the first lines of this poem, the speaker describes the act of writing a letter. She says she’s written the word a letter (a symbolperhaps for all of Dickinson’s poetry) but the world has not extended her the same courtesy. The speaker has not been acknowledged as she thinks she should. The poem concludes with Dickinson’s speaker saying that she...
Dickinson explores themes of writing, isolation, and community in ‘This is my letter to the world’. In the first lines, it becomes clear that the speaker is isolated, either by her fault or the neglect of others. She sees herself as being separate, something which evokes feelings of loneliness and alienation. But, despite this fact, she still feels...
‘This is my letter to the world’ by Emily Dickinson is an eight-line poem contained within one single stanza of text. The lines follow the standard form of a ballad stanza. This means that they rhyme ABCB. The “A” and “C” end sounds change in the second quatrain but the “B” rhymesdo not. As with standard ballad meter, the poem is made up of alterna...
Dickinson makes use of several literary devices in ‘This is my letter to the world’. These include but are not limited to alliteration, personification, and caesura. The first of these, alliteration, is seen through the use and reuse of the same sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “never,” “news,” and “Nature” in lines two and th...
Lines 1-4
In the first lines of ‘This is my letter to the world’ the speaker begins by describing how she wrote to the world but it never wrote back. This is likely a reference to Dickinson’s own poetry. She devoted herself to writing and sent that writing out into the world (although the vast majority of her poems were published after her death). She told the world what “Nature,” a good example of personification, told her. Plus, she did it with “tender majesty”. It’s clear from these first lines that...
Lines 5-8
Nature’s message is “committed/ to hands I cannot see,” the speaker says in the next lines. This is a description of the “hands” of the world. The writing she’s done, which came from Nature’s inspiration, belongs now to those she doesn’t even know. It’s very likely that the speaker’s all-consuming passion for writing is what sets her apart from the rest of the world. It alienated her from the very people she’s writing to and for. In the last lines, she uses the word “countrymen,” meaning comm...
Isolation and loneliness are common themes in poetry. There are numerous other poems that express these feelings. Some poets pose solutions while others find their speakers in hopeless situations. Some examples include‘Alone’ by Edgar Allan Poe, ‘Solitude’ by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, and ‘Ode on Solitude’ by Alexander Pope. Additionally, you might be i...
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Analyze Emily Dickinson's poem "This is my letter to the World." PDF Share. Expert Answers. Felicita Burton, Ph.D. | Certified Educator. Share Cite. One notable feature of the poem is...
Judge tenderly—of Me. Summary of This Is My Letter to the World. Popularity of “This Is My Letter to the World”: Written around 1862, “This Is My Letter to the World” is an enigmatic and compact poem. Emily Dickinson depicts the situation of an introvert regarding difficulties she has faced while communicating with the world.
“This Is My Letter to the World” is believed to have been written in 1862, the year during which Dickinson first began to share her poetry with Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a minister, writer, and editor who had a special interest in struggling young writers.
This is My Letter to the World. Emily Dickinson. Track 46 on Emily Dickinson. A poem that has given a great many biographers, thesis writers, and children’s book authors the hook they...
Feb 2, 2024 · February 2, 2024 by Story Arcadia. Emily Dickinson’s “This is My Letter to the World” encapsulates the enigmatic essence of her poetic work. As a cornerstone in literature, the poem delves into profound themes such as isolation, the yearning for understanding, and nature’s role in human experience.
