40 Important Quotes You Should Pay Attention to in Poetry by Emily Dickinson

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#11: I died for Beauty—but was scarce/Adjusted in the Tomb

• Poem: I died for Beauty—but was scarce
• Techniques: Iambic tetrameter 

#12: Until the Moss had reached our lips—/And covered up—Our names—

• Poem: I died for Beauty—but was scarce
• Techniques: Visual imagery, symbolism 

#13: Of Persons outside Windows—/The Entering—takes away—

• Poem: I died for Beauty—but was scarce
• Techniques: Pauses 

#14: Because I could not stop for Death –

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: Personification, consonance 

#15: The Carriage held but just Ourselves –/And Immortality.

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: Consonance, enjambment

#16: Were toward Eternity –

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: Iambic meter, visual imagery 

#17: For only Gossamer, my Gown –

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: Visual imagery, soft tone 

Feminism Quotes in Emily Dickinson’s Poems

Though the idea of feminism is not particularly present, ideas on gender expectations and the role of a female is subtly discussed within Dickinson’s work. This theme can be identified the most in ‘My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun -’.

#18: The Owner passed – identified -/And carried Me away –

• Poem: My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun 
• Techniques: Personal pronoun, diction 

#19: I guard My Master’s Head –

• Poem: My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun 
• Techniques: Visual imagery

#20: And now We hunt the Doe –

• Poem: My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun 
• Techniques: Symbolism, iambic trimeter 

#21: And now We roam in Sovreign Woods -/And now We hunt the Doe – /And every time I speak for Him 

• Poem: My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun 
• Techniques: Anaphora

#22: He questioned softly “Why I failed?”/”For Beauty,” I replied—

• Poem: I died for Beauty—but was scarce
• Techniques: Rhetorical question, personal pronoun

#23: We slowly drove – He knew no haste/And I had put away

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: Collective pronoun, personification 

Nature, Art and Writing Quotes in Emily Dickinson Poems

These three themes tend to meld quite well together, and with other themes such as death. Dickinson reflects ideas on the nature of humanity, the nature of death, the eternity of writing and the arts, touches upon ideas of the ‘death of the author’ and also mentions ideas regarding the natural world.

These themes are pretty well distributed amongst the poems – they would most likely be counted as sub-themes rather than those that are entirely focused on in the poems.

#24: With those same Boots of Lead, again,/Then Space – began to toll,

• Poem: I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
• Techniques: Symbolism

#25: We may inhale despair/At distances of centuries

• Poem: A word dropped careless on a page
• Techniques: Subversion of natural imagery 

#26: The simple News that Nature told/With tender Majesty

• Poem: This is my letter to the World 
• Techniques: Symbolism, diction  

#27: Her Message is committed/To Hands I cannot see —

• Poem: This is my letter to the World 
• Techniques: Symbolism, personification, synecdoche 

#28: The Plenty hurt me—’twas so new—/Myself felt ill—and odd—

• Poem: I had been hungry, all the Years
• Techniques: Archaic language, caesura, negative connotation

#29: The Birds and I, had often shared/In Nature’s—Dining Room—

• Poem: I had been hungry, all the Years
• Techniques: Natural imagery, metaphor 

#30: Myself felt ill—and odd—/As Berry—of a Mountain Bush—

• Poem: I had been hungry, all the Years
• Techniques: Natural imagery, symbolism 

#31: We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –/We passed the Setting Sun –

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: Symbolism, natural imagery, alliteration, anaphora 

#32: Or rather – He passed Us –

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: High modality, paradox 

#33: We passed the School, where Children strove/At Recess – in the Ring –

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: Enjambment, contrast

#34: We may inhale despair/At distances of centuries

• Poem: A word dropped careless on a page
• Techniques: Temporal imagery, metaphor 

#35: This is my letter to the World

• Poem: This is my letter to the World 
• Techniques: Personification

#36: A word dropped careless on a page…./Infection in the sentence breeds. 

• Poem: A word dropped careless on a page
• Techniques: Negative connotation, visual imagery, personification 

#37: And every time I speak for Him/The Mountains straight reply –

• Poem: My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun 
• Techniques: Personification, semiotic meaning

#38: For I have but the power to kill,/Without – the power to die – 

• Poem: My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun 
• Techniques: Repetition, contrast 

#39: Her Message is committed/To Hands I cannot see —

• Poem: This is my letter to the World 
• Techniques: Synecdoche, symbolism

#40: Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet/Feels shorter than the Day

• Poem: Because I could not stop for Death 
• Techniques: Juxtaposition, temporal imagery