“A Word is Dead” – Emily Dickinson

The title immediately makes the reader think that the text will be about the meaning of words. The title within itself is a metaphor. The attention is drawn to the words “Word” and “Death”. What the poet wants the intelligent reader to understand, is probably, that the text lives when you read it and that the poem will reflect Dickinson’s thoughts about life, death and immortality.

Apparently there’s only one stanza, but instead there are two in which the poet expresses two points of view about the life cycle of words. The first tercet expresses the opinion of people on the topic. While the second tercet expresses the poets point of view. First, she discusses how some believe that once a word is pronounced, it is then no longer important. Which means, that once it has served its purpose, it is forgotten and is no longer necessary. However, the poet, feels that when a word is used, it’s importance and meaning is never lost. She feels that when someone writes or says something with great feeling, those words, full of significance, will live and remain full of their meaning forever.

This poem was written in short, concise lines to emphasize the importance of each and every single word used. The rhyme scheme is AABCDB. The two lines with rhyme scheme B, aren’t only connected by the last word of the sentence, but also by the content of line and because they both consist in the last verse which composes the tercets. Line 3 tells the reader that “some say” their opinion on the topic discussed in the poem, and afterwards in line 6, the reader will also know when those people expressed their opinion “that day”. The narrator is in the third person. You can understand it from the expression at line 3 “some say”. It is also important to notice the sound effects present in the poem. It passes from a harsh sound, created by the letter “d” in the first part of the poem which represents death, to a smoother sound, created by the alliteration of the liquid sound “s” which on the other hand represents life.

The main theme of this poem is that words never lose their meaning once they are pronounced. The intentions they were spoken with, will remain alive as long as the others will remember. I also believe that the message that Emily Dickinson wants the intelligent reader to read between the lines is that not only words once pronounced live full of their meanings forever, they also open infinite doors to ideas, thoughts, ways of living, culture and so much more. Which means that thanks to poetry, or any other paper written, when someone actually reads it with interest and concentrates on the real meaning of the text, can learn so many things and remember them for a life time.