Saturday, April 23, 2011

Can someone prove that there is a relationship between the structure (language, meter etc.. ) and the content of the following poem? Many...

In Emily Dickinson's "It dropped so low—in my Regard," I
can see that there is a relationship between the language and the
meter chosen, and the poem's structure.


The meter of the
poem is also seen in other poems by this author: there are two stanzas in this piece,
and the pattern of rhythm each stanza follows is eight beats in the first and third
lines, and six beats in the second and fourth. The beat settles on everything other
syllable, starting with the second syllable of each line, so there are four accented
syllables in the first and third lines, and three accented syllables in the second and
fourth lines.


Since the poem speaks of something dropping,
I would consider that perhaps the meter mimics the sound of something falling. It does
not refer to multiple things dropping, so my sense is that the repeated "thudding" might
speak to the depth to which this "something" has plummeted in the
speaker's regard.


The idea of the "dropping" is also
"heard" in the language Dickinson chooses, such as:  hit, pieces, fractured, and plated
wares. In terms of language, imagery here is also important to the sense of something
dropping: "I heard it hit the ground, / And go to pieces on the
stones..."


The structure of the poem is found in devices
such as meter and language, which support the message Emily Dickinson is attempting,
beautifully, to convey to the reader: someone has fallen off of the speaker's pedestal,
falling in her regard or esteem.

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