The wind begun to rock the grass - Dickinson
Background
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886):
- Born in Massachusetts
- Very well educated (unusual for women at the time)
- Was a very reclusive person
- Preferred solitude so that she could focus on her inner world and her
creativity
- The deaths of her mother, her favourite nephew and several other close
friends increased her preference for solitude and exacerbated her nervous
disposition
- The great extent of her poetry was only discovered after her death
- The poems she published during her lifetime were all published without her
even knowing (These poems were published in newspapers)
- She hated the idea of selling her poetry and becoming famous, however, seh
did enjoy shring her poems with those close to her.
The wind begun to rock the grass: Analysis
- Dramatic description of an approaching storm
- Celebrates nature’s power
Title:
- Dickinson’s poem’s usually weren’t titled so the first line becomes the title
- Creates an image that makes the reader feel uneasy
The wind begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low,--
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.
The leaves unhooked themselves from trees
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.
, The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow;
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.
The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain,
And then, as if the hands
That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky
But overlooked my father's house,
lust quartering a tree.
Structure:
- Half-rhyme: Words that don’t quite rhyme perfectly but have a similar sound
to them
- Used in S2-S5
- “Abroad” and “road”
- “Slow” and claw”
- “Barns” and “hands”
- “Sky” and “tree”
- Dashes used throughout the poem to show an action that is ongoing and
builds tension
- Each of the moments in the storm are constantly ongoing (as indicated by
the dashes)
- 1st and 3rd lines in each stanza uses Iambic Tetrameter (8 syllables)
- E.g. v / v / v / v /
The wind be gun to rock the grass
- 2nd and 4th lines in each stanza uses Iambic Trimeter (6 syllables)
Theme:
Overall Tone:
- Strange
- Mysterious
- Unsettling
- Ominous
Background
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886):
- Born in Massachusetts
- Very well educated (unusual for women at the time)
- Was a very reclusive person
- Preferred solitude so that she could focus on her inner world and her
creativity
- The deaths of her mother, her favourite nephew and several other close
friends increased her preference for solitude and exacerbated her nervous
disposition
- The great extent of her poetry was only discovered after her death
- The poems she published during her lifetime were all published without her
even knowing (These poems were published in newspapers)
- She hated the idea of selling her poetry and becoming famous, however, seh
did enjoy shring her poems with those close to her.
The wind begun to rock the grass: Analysis
- Dramatic description of an approaching storm
- Celebrates nature’s power
Title:
- Dickinson’s poem’s usually weren’t titled so the first line becomes the title
- Creates an image that makes the reader feel uneasy
The wind begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low,--
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.
The leaves unhooked themselves from trees
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.
, The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow;
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.
The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain,
And then, as if the hands
That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky
But overlooked my father's house,
lust quartering a tree.
Structure:
- Half-rhyme: Words that don’t quite rhyme perfectly but have a similar sound
to them
- Used in S2-S5
- “Abroad” and “road”
- “Slow” and claw”
- “Barns” and “hands”
- “Sky” and “tree”
- Dashes used throughout the poem to show an action that is ongoing and
builds tension
- Each of the moments in the storm are constantly ongoing (as indicated by
the dashes)
- 1st and 3rd lines in each stanza uses Iambic Tetrameter (8 syllables)
- E.g. v / v / v / v /
The wind be gun to rock the grass
- 2nd and 4th lines in each stanza uses Iambic Trimeter (6 syllables)
Theme:
Overall Tone:
- Strange
- Mysterious
- Unsettling
- Ominous
