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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The foremost theme in Dickinson’s poem is gender and the speaker's somewhat subversive and abrasive attitude towards the gentlewomen. The speaker doesn’t mention men—gentlemen or otherwise—which makes it appear as if the gentlewomen are solely responsible for their “Dimity Convictions” (Line 5) and “Brittle" (Line 11) identity. In one sense, the theme of gender is empowering: The speaker treats the gentlewomen as if they have the power to manage their circumstances in life. While other men in the 1800s might have treated gentlewomen as dependent on them, the speaker regards the gentlewomen as if they’re autonomous. The speaker creates a sense of equality. By jettisoning men (besides the allusion to the fisherman), the speaker indicates that women have the resources to do more with their lives and carve out a different path instead of one fit for “Cherubic Creatures” (Line 1) afraid of “freckled Human Nature” (Line 7).
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
After great pain, a formal feeling comes
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson