I Started Early - Took My Dog by Emily Dickinson

Question 1

Context:

Answer 1

• Emily Dickinson was a Puritan Christian and regularly visited the Church, perhaps influencing her to use common meter and balladic form.
• Heavily influenced by the Romantic movement and the American Transcendentalist movement, inspiring her to use highly metaphorical, vividly descriptive language to portray overflowing emotion.
• Dickinson was a recluse for most of her life and led a sequestered lifestyle, staying away from the public; perhaps this is reflected in the overwhelming emotions expressed by the speaker during a simple walk by the sea.

Question 2

Form:

Answer 2

• Lyrical ballad
• 6 quatrains
• ABCB rhyme scheme
• Ballads tell stories; this poem recounts the adventure of the speaker
• Dickinson influenced by hymns which used the same form; perhaps adds a special religious sense to this poem, exemplifying its impact on the speaker

Question 3

Meter:

Answer 3

• Common meter, influenced by hymns at Church
• Alternating between iambic tetrameter and trimeter

Question 4

Rhyme Scheme:

Answer 4

• ABCB
• Slant rhymes towards the end, symbolising the speaker’s pleasure and detachment from her senses
• Slant rhymes also emphasise the end of her sexual awakening

Question 5

Structure:

Answer 5

• The tension seems to rise until the climactic point towards the middle, when the speaker is overwhelmed by the “sea”.
• The tension falls as the speaker retreats to the familiar “Solid Town”
• This rising and falling tension means that the structure exemplifies the speaker’s intense emotions at her sexual awakening

Question 6

dog:

Answer 6

Symbol of innocence; the fact that it is never mentioned again perhaps highlights the loss of the speaker’s sexual virginity

Question 7

KEY QUOTE: The tone immediately shifts to a fantastical, mesmerising atmosphere in the first stanza:

Answer 7

“The mermaids in the basement came out to look at me”

Question 8

KEY QUOTE: The ropes are personified as beckoning the speaker to have an adventure, exemplifying the allure of the sea:

Answer 8

“Frigates […] extented Hempen Hands”

Question 9

KEY QUOTE: The speaker is depicted as a mouse, exemplifying her feeling of vulnerability, contrasting with the mighty power of the sea, furthering the sense of adventure:

Answer 9

“presuming me to be a mouse”

Question 10

KEY QUOTE: The sea rushes up past the speaker, up her body, depicting her overwhelmed emotions at this sexual encounter, amplified by the polysyndeton and anaphora:

Answer 10

“the tide went past my simple shoe - and past my apron - and my belt - and past my bodice”

Question 11

KEY QUOTE: Climactic point:

Answer 11

“He would eat me up as wholly as a dew upon a dandelion’s sleeve - and then - I started”

Question 12

KEY QUOTE: The sea pursues the speaker, creating a sense of adrenaline and fear as she retreats from this sexual experience:

Answer 12

“He - He followed - close behind”

Question 13

KEY QUOTE(S): Depiction of temptation of the sea, through images of value:

Answer 13

• “his silver heel”
• “my shoes would overflow with Pearl”

Question 14

KEY QUOTE: The speaker returns to familiarity:

Answer 14

“until we met the Solid Town”

Question 15

Summary

Answer 15

This poem is an interesting one in that it can be interpreted in two distinct ways; firstly, it may simply be an intense account of an adventure that the reclusive speaker has, attracted by the mystery of the sea, while alternatively, it can be seen as a sexual awakening, with the “mighty” sea being personified as a man dominating our “little” speaker. The vivid use of metaphors accentuates the extent to which the speaker has been moved and overwhelmed by this experience - sexual or not.