When viewing the use of the dash in Emily's poetry, it is important to see the work exactly as Emily wrote it in order to see how the dash was used in its original context. I will be including the links to the original manuscripts as well as transcribing them exactly as they are here on this pager in order to grasp the use of the dash in a better context.
The first poem worth looking at is "The Soul that hath a Guest" by Emily Dickinson. This poem was found written in a letter to Susan, her best friend. There are several dashes in the poem to examine. For a short dash in Emily's poem, I will be using a '-' dash and for a longer or bolder dash, I will be using a '--' dash. Any punctuation errors within the poem are also included within my transcription.
http://www.edickinson.org/editions/1/image_sets/72038
"The Soul that hath
a Guest
Doth seldom go abroad--
Diviner Crowd at Home-
Obliterate the need-
And Courtesy forbid
A Hosts' departure
When
Upon Him self be visiting
the Emperor of Men--"
Upon analyzing this poem's use of punctuation, it is easy to see the different lengths of the dash at the end of the lines. The large dashes, or the dashes that seem to convey more emotion, are placed after the second line and the ending line. This may be due to Dickinson completing a full thought, such as a soul with a guest, or the end of the entire poem at first glance. However, it is also possible that these dashes were used in a more emotional state. Susan and Emily were extremely close in their friendship, almost 'soul sisters' in a sense. "The Soul that hath a Guest" is obviously referring to Emily's heart having Sue within it; this is apparent because the poem was found within a letter to Susan. Emily's heart carried Susan within it and seemingly only had room for her. "Doth seldom go abroad--" can be analyzed as meaning that her heart will not wander or leave because it is already filled with love. The long dash at the end of this line may be completing the thought that Emily's soul will not leave Susan or it may be a subconscious act on Emily's part to show the bold emotions associated with her platonic love for Susan. When a person writes, the amount of pressure on the paper will change with a person's mood, as will marks such as a tisten upon a T or a tilde over an I. If a tisten will change, then it is safe to affirm that a dash will also be able to undergo change when impacted with a strong emotion. If this is correct, Emily felt such a strong emotion when writing the first two lines that it changed her penmanship. In fact, the tistens on the Ts of the first two lines are only matched with her crossing of "obliterate." The tisten on "Guest" is harsh, dark, and short, similar to the dashes on the other lines. The final dash of the poem is also broad and strong but more than likely this dash was meant to symbolize the completion of a thought rather than an overflow of emotion into the pen. So, it is easy to see that the first dash is used from an overflow of emotion and is used in an emotional state; the last dash is used for a completion of thought. But what about the dashes in the middle of the poem? The dashes in the middle show no real sign of having any emotion-based life behind them. They are short and have no defining characteristics that set them apart from her regular brush stroke. These dashes were mainly used to separate a continuing line of thought, such as the modern day use of "..." in text messages. It is not necessarily used in a correct grammatical construct, but rather as a means of continuation or a filler of space, similar to how 'lol' is put at the end of text messages as a sort of 'filler' for a blank space.
A second poem to examine the dash in Emily's works is "A Tongue-To tell Him I am true!" This poem has several dashes and consists of two separate pages. For the page break, I will be inserting a ___ line then continuing with the poem. Again, larger dashes or bolder dashes will be marked with '--' and smaller dashes with a '-' in my transcription. The punctuation shall also be kept as is without any changes on my part.
http://www.edickinson.org/editions/1/image_sets/69604
"A Tongue-to tell Him
I am true!
It's fee - to be of Gold -
Had Nature - in Her
monstrous House
A Single Ragged Child --
To Earn A Mine -would run
That Interdicted Way ,
And tell Him - Change
Thee speak it plain - (this is an incredibly small dash, almost looks like a period)
That so far - Truth is True?
And Answer What I do -
Beginning with the Day
That Night - begun --
Nay - Midnight - 'twas --
Since Midnight -- happened --say--
If once more - Pardon - Boy -
The Magnitude thou may
_____________________
Enlarge My Message - If too
vast
Another Lad - help Thee -
Thy Pay - in Diamonds - be -
And His - in solid Gold -
Say Rubies - if He hesitate -
My Message - must be told -
Say - last I said - was This -
That when the Hills - come
down -
And hold no higher than
the Plain -
My Bond - have just begun -
And when the Heavens - disband -
And Deity conclude -
Then - look for me - Be sure
you say -
Least Figure - on the Road -- "
This poem has a plethora of dashes and punctuation to analyze. The first discrepancy to be noticed is the spacing between the dashes. Most of the dashes are set between the words with a space or follow a word at the end of a line with a space. However, there are a few instances where the dash is much closer to the words it is separating or even touching just one word. When looking at these dashes, it is possible to say that Emily just began writing sooner and was not as attentive to her handwriting because she was carried away with the thought. However, being 'carried away' by something is an emotional state of being. If Emily did make these dashes closer to the words because she was excited at the prospect of the poem, then there is more evidence for her dashes being more emotionally linked rather than connected with grammar. The second thing to look at with the dashes is their size. Almost every dash in this poem is of uniform size safe for one or two. Again, the last line of the poem has a more bold dash than the rest of the poem, similar to the poem analyzed above. Therefore, it is possible to connect these two dashes from different poems and say that a dash at the end of a poem shows the completion and finality of Emily's thought process. When typing, when completing a long and tedious paper or a work that one is proud of, it is common to press the final punctuation key with slightly more force than the other punctuation keys. Perhaps this is a modern context of how Emily used a final, bold dash, a 'striking' of the final key. The other bold dashes come along the lines of "Nay - Midnight" through the following line. These dashes separate one or two words at a time, and the context of the words themselves almost seems as if the narrator was changing their mind when saying the lines. Perhaps these dashes show Emily's changing mind on the words she wanted to choose; the bolder, quicker dash being penned out by bolder, quicker decisions made within her mind about her poem. Again, this would be linked to an emotional state rather than a grammatical use. There is one dash in particular that is very, very minuscule and hard to discern from a period. The dash falls at the end of the line "Thee speak it plain -" The stanza itself seems to carry with it a doubtful tone, one of uncertainty "Truth is True?" and the smallness of the dash may be related to a small mindset, a careful mindset when writing the stanza. So from my analysis, the dashes in this poem are more heavily linked to an emotional influence rather than a grammatical one, much like the previous poem.
A final poem to examine the use of the dash before moving on and examining the use of the dash in her letters would be the fairly short "Could I - then - shut the door - " by Emily Dickinson to Susan. The poem includes a dash on every line which will make it easy to examine and compare o the other two poems above. The same as before, a larger dash is indicated by '--' and a shorter dash is indicated by '-'. All punctuation is kept exactly as it is found in the manuscript.
http://www.edickinson.org/editions/1/image_sets/70279
Could I - then -
shut the door -
Lest my beseeching
face - at last -
Rejected - be - of Her?
A short poem full of short dashes, but other interesting punctuation is included that is worth analyzing. This poem was written in pencil which makes it much easier to see the pressure she used in her words and punctuation. There appears to be more pressure used in the first, second and third lines with less pressure in the fourth and fifth lines, with the most pressure being used in the second and third. Pressure is an indicator of mood when a person is writing as I have stated before (refer to the first poem and the sources page for additional information) and the more pressure indicates a stronger mood associated with the writing. Poetry is mean to move the soul and understand the world in an uncommon way, and so poetry will always have an emotional link with it. However, by viewing the pressure used in the poem, it is clear to see which pieces of the poem had more emotional influence from Emily. The punctuation itself is generally regulated, but the dash after the "I" is fairly short and the dash after "last" has extremely light pressure. This poem has a rather doubtful tone to it. The lighter pressure can indicate unease or insecurity within the mind of the writer. The underlined words are all pronouns, and pronouns tend to take on a more personal aspect in our lives because they represent someone or something in our lives. The underlining indicates emphasis on the words; if the dash was solely used for emphasis as some scholars suggest, why would Emily just indicate the emphasis using her dash? Why use the underline? Because her dash is not solely linked with grammar; her dash is linked with emotion as an analysis of all three of the poems indicates. Punctuation to Emily is emotional, not grammatical in nature.
The first poem worth looking at is "The Soul that hath a Guest" by Emily Dickinson. This poem was found written in a letter to Susan, her best friend. There are several dashes in the poem to examine. For a short dash in Emily's poem, I will be using a '-' dash and for a longer or bolder dash, I will be using a '--' dash. Any punctuation errors within the poem are also included within my transcription.
http://www.edickinson.org/editions/1/image_sets/72038
"The Soul that hath
a Guest
Doth seldom go abroad--
Diviner Crowd at Home-
Obliterate the need-
And Courtesy forbid
A Hosts' departure
When
Upon Him self be visiting
the Emperor of Men--"
Upon analyzing this poem's use of punctuation, it is easy to see the different lengths of the dash at the end of the lines. The large dashes, or the dashes that seem to convey more emotion, are placed after the second line and the ending line. This may be due to Dickinson completing a full thought, such as a soul with a guest, or the end of the entire poem at first glance. However, it is also possible that these dashes were used in a more emotional state. Susan and Emily were extremely close in their friendship, almost 'soul sisters' in a sense. "The Soul that hath a Guest" is obviously referring to Emily's heart having Sue within it; this is apparent because the poem was found within a letter to Susan. Emily's heart carried Susan within it and seemingly only had room for her. "Doth seldom go abroad--" can be analyzed as meaning that her heart will not wander or leave because it is already filled with love. The long dash at the end of this line may be completing the thought that Emily's soul will not leave Susan or it may be a subconscious act on Emily's part to show the bold emotions associated with her platonic love for Susan. When a person writes, the amount of pressure on the paper will change with a person's mood, as will marks such as a tisten upon a T or a tilde over an I. If a tisten will change, then it is safe to affirm that a dash will also be able to undergo change when impacted with a strong emotion. If this is correct, Emily felt such a strong emotion when writing the first two lines that it changed her penmanship. In fact, the tistens on the Ts of the first two lines are only matched with her crossing of "obliterate." The tisten on "Guest" is harsh, dark, and short, similar to the dashes on the other lines. The final dash of the poem is also broad and strong but more than likely this dash was meant to symbolize the completion of a thought rather than an overflow of emotion into the pen. So, it is easy to see that the first dash is used from an overflow of emotion and is used in an emotional state; the last dash is used for a completion of thought. But what about the dashes in the middle of the poem? The dashes in the middle show no real sign of having any emotion-based life behind them. They are short and have no defining characteristics that set them apart from her regular brush stroke. These dashes were mainly used to separate a continuing line of thought, such as the modern day use of "..." in text messages. It is not necessarily used in a correct grammatical construct, but rather as a means of continuation or a filler of space, similar to how 'lol' is put at the end of text messages as a sort of 'filler' for a blank space.
A second poem to examine the dash in Emily's works is "A Tongue-To tell Him I am true!" This poem has several dashes and consists of two separate pages. For the page break, I will be inserting a ___ line then continuing with the poem. Again, larger dashes or bolder dashes will be marked with '--' and smaller dashes with a '-' in my transcription. The punctuation shall also be kept as is without any changes on my part.
http://www.edickinson.org/editions/1/image_sets/69604
"A Tongue-to tell Him
I am true!
It's fee - to be of Gold -
Had Nature - in Her
monstrous House
A Single Ragged Child --
To Earn A Mine -would run
That Interdicted Way ,
And tell Him - Change
Thee speak it plain - (this is an incredibly small dash, almost looks like a period)
That so far - Truth is True?
And Answer What I do -
Beginning with the Day
That Night - begun --
Nay - Midnight - 'twas --
Since Midnight -- happened --say--
If once more - Pardon - Boy -
The Magnitude thou may
_____________________
Enlarge My Message - If too
vast
Another Lad - help Thee -
Thy Pay - in Diamonds - be -
And His - in solid Gold -
Say Rubies - if He hesitate -
My Message - must be told -
Say - last I said - was This -
That when the Hills - come
down -
And hold no higher than
the Plain -
My Bond - have just begun -
And when the Heavens - disband -
And Deity conclude -
Then - look for me - Be sure
you say -
Least Figure - on the Road -- "
This poem has a plethora of dashes and punctuation to analyze. The first discrepancy to be noticed is the spacing between the dashes. Most of the dashes are set between the words with a space or follow a word at the end of a line with a space. However, there are a few instances where the dash is much closer to the words it is separating or even touching just one word. When looking at these dashes, it is possible to say that Emily just began writing sooner and was not as attentive to her handwriting because she was carried away with the thought. However, being 'carried away' by something is an emotional state of being. If Emily did make these dashes closer to the words because she was excited at the prospect of the poem, then there is more evidence for her dashes being more emotionally linked rather than connected with grammar. The second thing to look at with the dashes is their size. Almost every dash in this poem is of uniform size safe for one or two. Again, the last line of the poem has a more bold dash than the rest of the poem, similar to the poem analyzed above. Therefore, it is possible to connect these two dashes from different poems and say that a dash at the end of a poem shows the completion and finality of Emily's thought process. When typing, when completing a long and tedious paper or a work that one is proud of, it is common to press the final punctuation key with slightly more force than the other punctuation keys. Perhaps this is a modern context of how Emily used a final, bold dash, a 'striking' of the final key. The other bold dashes come along the lines of "Nay - Midnight" through the following line. These dashes separate one or two words at a time, and the context of the words themselves almost seems as if the narrator was changing their mind when saying the lines. Perhaps these dashes show Emily's changing mind on the words she wanted to choose; the bolder, quicker dash being penned out by bolder, quicker decisions made within her mind about her poem. Again, this would be linked to an emotional state rather than a grammatical use. There is one dash in particular that is very, very minuscule and hard to discern from a period. The dash falls at the end of the line "Thee speak it plain -" The stanza itself seems to carry with it a doubtful tone, one of uncertainty "Truth is True?" and the smallness of the dash may be related to a small mindset, a careful mindset when writing the stanza. So from my analysis, the dashes in this poem are more heavily linked to an emotional influence rather than a grammatical one, much like the previous poem.
A final poem to examine the use of the dash before moving on and examining the use of the dash in her letters would be the fairly short "Could I - then - shut the door - " by Emily Dickinson to Susan. The poem includes a dash on every line which will make it easy to examine and compare o the other two poems above. The same as before, a larger dash is indicated by '--' and a shorter dash is indicated by '-'. All punctuation is kept exactly as it is found in the manuscript.
http://www.edickinson.org/editions/1/image_sets/70279
Could I - then -
shut the door -
Lest my beseeching
face - at last -
Rejected - be - of Her?
A short poem full of short dashes, but other interesting punctuation is included that is worth analyzing. This poem was written in pencil which makes it much easier to see the pressure she used in her words and punctuation. There appears to be more pressure used in the first, second and third lines with less pressure in the fourth and fifth lines, with the most pressure being used in the second and third. Pressure is an indicator of mood when a person is writing as I have stated before (refer to the first poem and the sources page for additional information) and the more pressure indicates a stronger mood associated with the writing. Poetry is mean to move the soul and understand the world in an uncommon way, and so poetry will always have an emotional link with it. However, by viewing the pressure used in the poem, it is clear to see which pieces of the poem had more emotional influence from Emily. The punctuation itself is generally regulated, but the dash after the "I" is fairly short and the dash after "last" has extremely light pressure. This poem has a rather doubtful tone to it. The lighter pressure can indicate unease or insecurity within the mind of the writer. The underlined words are all pronouns, and pronouns tend to take on a more personal aspect in our lives because they represent someone or something in our lives. The underlining indicates emphasis on the words; if the dash was solely used for emphasis as some scholars suggest, why would Emily just indicate the emphasis using her dash? Why use the underline? Because her dash is not solely linked with grammar; her dash is linked with emotion as an analysis of all three of the poems indicates. Punctuation to Emily is emotional, not grammatical in nature.
