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Poet: Emily Dickinson
Poem: 199.
I'm "wife" -- I've finished that
Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Year: Published/Written in 1955
Poem of the Day:
Apr 21 2007
Comment 6 of 6, added on October 12th, 2007 at 10:10 AM.
My feeling is that Emily may be mocking someone who is newly married and perhaps has "sniffed" at Emily, but that in fact, she is deeply jealous and does understand that being married "eclipses" girlhood. She no doubt did long for the state of marriage where she could be the Tzar of her own household and get away from her father.
ea
Comment 5 of 6, added on July 6th, 2007 at 10:19 PM.
This poem is about an uneasy-contradictory feeling of a young woman who is turning into a woman, especially a wife that seems "safer and more comfortable", but stopping her from becoming a full human being with no self empowerment and self identity anymore. That's why she calls the marriage as an eclipse--though a soft one because of her uneasy (read unsatisfied) but culturally obligated feeling on marriage. Basically, she is not satisfied with the marriage life; and that's why she keeps comparing (though she says 'why compare?') herself from the beginning to the end of the poem.
Akun from Indonesia
Comment 4 of 6, added on April 17th, 2006 at 1:07 AM.
It's amazing how this poem can be interpreted so many different ways. All three previous comments are completely different and mine is different still! I believe Dickenson is playing feminist. She is saying it is better to be "Woman" rather than "Wife." Once you make this realization, you will see things as differently as the dead see life on earth. However, she ends in a cynical tone: With independence comes pain, so it is natural for women to stop at "Wife."
Steve from United States
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Comments
My feeling is that Emily may be mocking someone who is newly married and perhaps has "sniffed" at Emily, but that in fact, she is deeply jealous and does understand that being married "eclipses" girlhood. She no doubt did long for the state of marriage where she could be the Tzar of her own household and get away from her father.
ea