The soul selects her own society by Dylan Clark (Student FVHS)

dpclark100 — 2024-03-27 15:51:58 UTC

1830 –1886

The Soul selects her own Society —
Then — shuts the Door —
To her divine Majority —
Present no more —

Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing —
At her low Gate —
Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat —

I've known her — from an ample nation —
Choose One —
Then — close the Valves of her attention —
Like Stone —

Dylan - Q4. What figure of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and the meaning of the poem?

dpclark100 — 2024-03-27 16:03:46 UTC

In there poem the soul selects her own society we see many many figures of speech being used. Symbol for instance. Dickinson uses things like doors gates and valves to symbolize part of her life or part of the society she chooses to live in. We also get good examples of paradox from the quote, "I've known her from an ample nation, choose one." To be honest though all I could tell from that poem is that it's sting some sort of loop and nothing else. These figures of speech contribute to the tone by contributing to how the author describes herself. She describes herself as the main character and how she has the right to choose where she belongs and who she belongs to.

Brandon - Q7 : How important is the role of sound effects, such as rhyme and rhythm? How do they effect tone and meaning.

bjclausi100 — 2024-03-27 16:09:45 UTC

The poem is mostly silent and is particularly composed of small segments that have rhyming to them. Words like "shuts the door" and "Chariots - pausing" bring subtle reference to sound without using onomatopoeia and tie in the senses into the story. Her rhyming scheme is subtle and is spread out quite far from each word rhymed. This creates words that stand out when reading. An example of this would be "Society" and "Majority". The rhythm segments are composed of "if I could buy the world a coke." This makes her poems catchy and allows for widespread adoption of these poems. These writing conventions make the poem feel like a small tribute as you read.

Dylan - Q6. What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single sentence? Elaborate on your idea?

dpclark100 — 2024-03-27 16:13:23 UTC

The main theme of the poem is that you are your own person and you can choose how you live your own life however you want to live it. You only do get one life after all. As teenagers we often underestimate how long we have to live, but we need to face the fact that another 70 years is not a long in the terms of the world so we need to use the time we have to the best of our abilities. In the span of your 80-90 (or even younger than that) you are the captain of your own soul and you get to choose how you live. Whether you want to live single, married, or whether you want to stand up for what you believe is right. In the end you do what you want to do in your life and the poem is saying once you have decided on what you want to do you need to stick with that choice until the day that you die. I could talk more about this, but I don't think anyone wants to hear that. All you need to take away from this poem is that the main idea the author is trying to convey with us is that you only have one life and you choose how you want to live it. Also you get to choose who you want to live with.

Brandon - Q1 What is the poem's tone? which words reveal this tone? Is the poem ironic?

bjclausi100 — 2024-03-27 16:20:56 UTC

The poem's tone throughout the story is solemn and it takes itself seriously by empowering the individual instead of some greater being. This can be seen with "shuts the Door" and "Selects her own society." This brings irony into the mix because the rest of the poem is about a greater being coming to her door demanding a choice. "Emperor" more than likely refers to God asking her to join his nation.

Biographical Information

dpclark100 — 2024-03-27 16:21:20 UTC

From the information that I have on Emily Dickinson, it states that she was a very eccentric person during her times and would always stay in her room even when her father died. From my notes it also seems like she uses the form of colors to identify characteristics. An example would be that she views red as passionate and white as something more pure or could even mean death. In any case she chose that was the way she wanted to live. Which relates to the poem that you choose how you want to live, where you want to live, and who you want to live with.