Emily Dickenson Essay

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Tiffany Carr Professor Skelton English 1302 7, May 2012 Analysis of [I like to see it lap the miles]: What exactly is it? Riddle me this one might say. In Emily Dickenson’s poem, [I like to see it lap the miles] there is a riddle inside itself. She uses words that can easily represent something other than what she is actually writing of. The connection between a word and what it is describing is tested throughout her poem. She reminds us how a word can be used to describe many different things. She purposely throws you into thinking it could be anything that she never meant it to be. Dickenson metaphorically describes the train, never giving the name to which her poem so passionately describes. For the most part Emily sticks with iambic meter throughout her poem. The meter is interrupted in the last stanza when she draws attention to the word “Stop.” She starts the line off with this word and because of its need to be emphasized or stressed the meter is forced to change. The indirect rhyme that Emily uses is very easily seen in the first two stanzas. In stanza one the word “miles” and “tanks” both end in the same consonant sound. The same goes for “up” and “step.” Stanza 2 follows this as well having “mountains” and “roads” serve as an indirect rhyme. “Peer” and “pare” also end in the same consonant sound bringing more indirect rhyme to the surface. Perhaps she wants in to dig to find her rhymes just as we must dig into our psyche to find that it’s a train. Emily uses alliteration in every stanza. The most recognizable alliteration comes in stanza 3 when “horrid- hooting” is used to describe the trains sound. Even in stanza one Emily used alliteration to describe how she is intrigued over the train. “Like,” “lap,” and “lick” all begin with the sound of an l. The last stanza shows alliteration as well with the words “star,” “stop,” and “stable.” The
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