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.
No comments:
Post a Comment