21 Nov: "I dwell in possibility" by Emily Dickinson

I dwell in possibility,
A fairer house than prose,
More numerous of windows,
Superior for doors.

Of chambers as the cedars,
Impregnable of eye.
And for an everlasting roof
The gambrels of the sky.

Of visitors, the fairest.
For occupation, this:
The spreading wide my narrow hands
To gather paradise.


2 comments:

  1. This is the coolest literary critism, maybe tied with the Cybor Manifesto.

    The link between poetry and possibility. She uses the strongest symbols to describe these possibilities: doors, windows, roof, sky, hands.

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  2. Looked up Cyborg Manifesto: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cyborg_Manifesto
    Can you explain your view here more?

    This poem is neat to think about in terms of Dickinson's biography. Her writing poem in the upstairs bedroom of her parents home....not having many visitors. But the yearn for the possibility of life still so strongly there. She used poetry to travel to places, meet people and dream dreams she never got or chose to live....always versing them better than those who had really been there.

    It would be neat to read some of her poems on immortality and love with the themes we have been going with. I always related to her most as a poet.

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