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Poet: Emily Dickinson
Poem: 4.
On this wondrous sea
Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Year: Published/Written in 1955
Poem of the Day:
Jul 25 2000
Comment 8 of 8, added on October 2nd, 2007 at 11:22 PM.
I'm reading or rereading Emily's poems in the order they are listed here, so it will be a while before I'm done :) Anyhow, I was surprised by the small number of comments on a poem I find most enjoyable.
Just want to add something to what others have already said. I find this one is very musical really, and it is a fact that many of Emily Dickinson's poems have been sung to a tune. But even if you just read this poem carefully out and aloud and pay attention at the sounds you are making, the al.literations and the contrasts between minimal pairs of phonemes (or, simply put, sounds) such as /t/ /d/ /th/ /s/ /z/ and the way she combines vowels and diphthongs you can almost hear and feel the waves she is talking about and, with a bit of imagination, if you read this with the right intonation and rythm, you can see yourself aboard a rocking ship and in the end you are really glad when the poem is over and you are back at shore. No kidding. Try it!
Juan from Spain
Comment 7 of 8, added on February 20th, 2006 at 5:42 PM.
Wow. This poem is amazing and bogles the mind into a world of Dickinson.
Jon from Canada
Comment 6 of 8, added on October 25th, 2005 at 12:45 AM.
My interpretation was the same as Tamala's. The "wondrous sea" represents life while the shore of eternity is the after life, free of "storms" and pain.
Steve J. from United States
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Comments
I'm reading or rereading Emily's poems in the order they are listed here, so it will be a while before I'm done :) Anyhow, I was surprised by the small number of comments on a poem I find most enjoyable.
Just want to add something to what others have already said. I find this one is very musical really, and it is a fact that many of Emily Dickinson's poems have been sung to a tune. But even if you just read this poem carefully out and aloud and pay attention at the sounds you are making, the al.literations and the contrasts between minimal pairs of phonemes (or, simply put, sounds) such as /t/ /d/ /th/ /s/ /z/ and the way she combines vowels and diphthongs you can almost hear and feel the waves she is talking about and, with a bit of imagination, if you read this with the right intonation and rythm, you can see yourself aboard a rocking ship and in the end you are really glad when the poem is over and you are back at shore. No kidding. Try it!
Juan from Spain