From examining all the evidence collected, I have come to the conclusion that the dash as used by Emily Dickinson is used for emotional purposes in her poetry and more of a mixture of grammar and emotion in her other works. Dickinson used a dash in almost any work that has thus far been discovered. By taking the dictionary meanings of a dash and using those to match into a way that Dickinson used them in her work was an immense help in realizing the reasons that the dashes were used. On the pages of the website, each of my discoveries has been listed in detail and with explanations for my statements about the use of her dashes.
In her poetry, the dash appears to be used when an emotional thought or quality is expressed, not at all how the grammatical dictionary form of the dash is used. Dickinson does not use her dash to separate words or ideas in her poetry but rather to show how she feels in a certain line or to capture more attention to a certain word that has a lot of meaning to the overall work. She does not use the dash at random although many times it may appear that way in her helter-skelter poetry. The dash always has a purpose in her poetry and when viewing the manuscripts, it is very easy to tell which dashes were used and how emotionally connected Emily was to that particular point in the poem. The manuscripts are immensely important when analyzing the use of the dash. They reveal so much more than any type and print version of her works can. The dashes in her manuscripts change with the words she uses and the mount of pressure she uses on her writing utensils as well as how quickly she was writing. That detail is impossible to notice from a print version of the work.
Her letter I examined, the Master Letter, shows both a grammatical use and an emotional use. Unlike the poems, these dashes are more frequently found mid-line rather than as an ending punctuation, hinting towards a more grammatical nature. In her letter, she used correct ending punctuation such as periods or question marks, something which is rarely seen in her poetry, also aiding in the idea that these dashes also have a grammatical nature to them. She obviously paid much more attention to her grammar in her letter than she did in her poetry. This can be due to the emotional attachment that comes with writing poetry; a letter may not necessarily be emotional in nature, but one of the first things a person is asked after reading a poem is "How does it make you feel?" The dashes also have an emotional nature due to her placing them around the word Master. The word is either separated from the rest of the line with dashes or with commas, giving a sort of respect to the title that is not seen in the rest of the letter. That is definitely emotional in nature, a respectful tone that can be seen in the writing.
In conclusion then, it is simple to see that the Dickinson dash is signifying Emily's emotions rather than her concern for correct grammar. This tiny punctuation symbol can lead us into the mind and the emotional state of one of the greatest poets ever produced in the United States.
In her poetry, the dash appears to be used when an emotional thought or quality is expressed, not at all how the grammatical dictionary form of the dash is used. Dickinson does not use her dash to separate words or ideas in her poetry but rather to show how she feels in a certain line or to capture more attention to a certain word that has a lot of meaning to the overall work. She does not use the dash at random although many times it may appear that way in her helter-skelter poetry. The dash always has a purpose in her poetry and when viewing the manuscripts, it is very easy to tell which dashes were used and how emotionally connected Emily was to that particular point in the poem. The manuscripts are immensely important when analyzing the use of the dash. They reveal so much more than any type and print version of her works can. The dashes in her manuscripts change with the words she uses and the mount of pressure she uses on her writing utensils as well as how quickly she was writing. That detail is impossible to notice from a print version of the work.
Her letter I examined, the Master Letter, shows both a grammatical use and an emotional use. Unlike the poems, these dashes are more frequently found mid-line rather than as an ending punctuation, hinting towards a more grammatical nature. In her letter, she used correct ending punctuation such as periods or question marks, something which is rarely seen in her poetry, also aiding in the idea that these dashes also have a grammatical nature to them. She obviously paid much more attention to her grammar in her letter than she did in her poetry. This can be due to the emotional attachment that comes with writing poetry; a letter may not necessarily be emotional in nature, but one of the first things a person is asked after reading a poem is "How does it make you feel?" The dashes also have an emotional nature due to her placing them around the word Master. The word is either separated from the rest of the line with dashes or with commas, giving a sort of respect to the title that is not seen in the rest of the letter. That is definitely emotional in nature, a respectful tone that can be seen in the writing.
In conclusion then, it is simple to see that the Dickinson dash is signifying Emily's emotions rather than her concern for correct grammar. This tiny punctuation symbol can lead us into the mind and the emotional state of one of the greatest poets ever produced in the United States.