My Life Had Stood A Loaded Gun Analysis

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Many ask the question, what exactly makes a loaded gun so powerful? For a vast amount of people, a gun can be what it represents. While a gun in the hands of a U.S. military soldier can represent safety, it could also represent fear if placed in the hands of a criminal or terrorist. A gun in the hands of a hunter can represent a sport or a means of surviving. Whatever it may represent, there is always an interpretation behind it. The first person poem “My Life had stood-a Loaded Gun” uses a loaded gun to give this poem a theme of violence. This is shown through the symbolism of the gun, nature, and life and death. The loaded gun symbolizes the opportunity for violence in this poem. This is because a loaded gun can be very dangerous in the hands of the wrong person. While the gun itself may symbolize violence, it also symbolizes power. The fact that it is loaded lets the reader know it is deadly, and holding something deadly gives a person power over another. Palmerino backs this up …show more content…
When Dickinson states “And now We roam in sovereign Woods-And now We hunt the Doe- And every time I speak for Him” (467) the use of the phrase “and now” is a good example of an anaphora, and the fact that a doe is being hunted is a good example of violent behavior in nature. As Thereau states in the article “In spiritual Action My life Had stood a Loaded Gun” that hunting in this poem has nothing to do with animals, but with people hunting themselves (288). This shows the violence towards themselves. Then there seems to be a violent nature in the “Sovereign woods” giving a sense of darkness throughout the mountains. Also, when Dickinson talks about the Elder Duck’s making a pillow (467) this seems to be a metaphor for the speakers pillow. The Elder Duck’s have to pluck their feathers off their body to make their nest, this is an unpleasant act and gives this poem another sense of
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Emily Dickinson My Life Had Stood A Loaded Gun Analysis

“private” woman of the “upper-middle-class”(Unger), strived to keep her life under her control, so the world is fortunate to have the poem “My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun” as well as her other poems. She was a cautious, only allowing those in her “personal correspondence” (Unger) to witness the beauty of her poems, until her sister, Lavinia, went against her wishes and published her poems after her death (Bloom). Dickinson had strictly wished to have her works burned, an astonishing two thousand poems…

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