The form of the poem contrasts with the words of the poem, which creates a feeling of unease and undermines the poem’s message. The dashes in the poem create ambiguity in the meaning of the poem as a whole. You might likeWhat were emily dickinson character traits? What is the effect of the repeated use of dashes throughout the poem? Dashes are also used to mark the interruption of a sentence in dialogue. The dash is a symbol for a person’s life.ĭashes are used to mark the beginning and end of a series, which might otherwise get confused, with the rest of the sentence. It is the time between a person’s birth and death. The dash is significant because it represents a person’s life. This makes the poem more enjoyable to read and more likely to be remembered. They force the reader to slow down and think about the meaning of the words, and the dashes in particular set apart important parts of the poem. The capitalized words, dashes, and specific words and phrases all contribute to making the poem more interesting and compelling to read.

By using dashes, she is able to control the pace of the poem and keep the reader engaged. In a sense, Dickinson is playing a big game of “Red Light, Green Light” with her readers. The dashes in Dickinson’s poem act as pauses, breaking up the flow of lines and forcing the reader to take stock as they go. You might likeHow the old mountains drip with sunset emily dickinson?

Em dash persona poems