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Essay / Rhyme, Rhythm, and Natural Imagery in Emily Dickinson's Poem of life or spirituality and the subtleties of rhyme as well as a meter; this connection is important because it sets the tone for reading the poem. Dickinson's natural imagery in this poem is important because it defines and adds momentum to the narrative. The rhyme scheme is staggered and alternates between true rhymes and biased rhymes. In many ways, the tone of the poem reflects much the same way we experience nature, with a lack of consistency and control. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Poem 666 opens with “I cross until I am weary/A mountain in my mind” (1-2). The speaker seems to be fighting something, pushing herself until she is exhausted at the end of the day. The term “mountain” is capitalized and emphasizes a significant, even insurmountable, obstacle. The speaker continues: “More mountains – then a sea – / More seas – And then / A desert – find-” (3-5), again capitalizing the names of these vast entities of nature: Mountain, Sea, Desert. The poet seems to realize that no matter how many obstacles she overcomes in life, and no matter how big they are, there will always be more. The first stanza consists of five lines, as is common for a Dickinson poem, although the rest of the poem's stanzas consist of only four lines forming quatrains. The only two rhymes found in this first stanza are “mind” and “find.” These are also the only two important terms in setting the tone of the poem that do not have the emphasis conferred by the capital letter; however, by rhyming the two together, Dickinson gives them their own distinct type of emphasis. The rhyming terms in the first stanza allow the reader to discover a different theme than nature in a second. The meter of seven, six, six, four, four sets up the rocky, challenging rhythm that continues throughout the rest of the poem. In the second stanza, the speaker states: “And my horizon is blocked / With grains constantly drifting / Of unconjectured quantity - Like the Asian rains -” (6-9). She does not know what awaits her because what she can imagine of her future is somewhat “erased” by this unknown number of events in the present. Dickinson continues this theme of traveling through nature and across the world by referring to “Asiatic rains.” The meter in this stanza is six, six, eight, and five, continuing the inconsistent rhythm of the poem. The two rhyming words used in this stanza are "Rains" and "Grains" which approach the same image in different ways and refer to the natural theme of the poem, as opposed to the rhyming words in the first stanza, which referred to the more personal theme . theme. Dickinson continues in the next stanza, "Nor this – beat my pace" (10), saying that no matter how uncertain she is of the future or how difficult life becomes, she will not slow down or be diverted from its path: “It bothers the West/ But like the salvation of an enemy/ One who hastens to rest” (11-13). She doesn't want to die until she is at peace with her life. These three lines seem to move the poem from the simple natural world to the spiritual world as she considers her final "rest." This quatrain also allows the poem to be read in a different way, which refers to a speaker who is constantly working and struggling and is therefore ready to leave his mortal life. Because of the connection between the natural and spiritual worlds in.
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