“A WORD is dead” Emily Dickenson – 1924

A WORD is dead

When it is said,

Some say.

I say it just

Begins to live

That day.

The first thing that notice any reader of a poem is the title. Inside the first verse of the poem by Emily Dickenson, which corresponds with the title of the poem itself, the reader's attention is attracted by two words: "Word" and "Dead." the subject and the verb are both offered with a capital letter, this particular feature creates a connection between the two terms. The connection is interesting because, usually, the verb "to die" is used in reference to living beings (humans or animals) death of which can be described or referred. Within the title, however, the verb refers to something inanimate, a word. for this reason we can say that the overall expression constituting the first line of the poem is a metaphor, which poses a word like a living creature who has lost its life, and this allows the reader to ask intelligent questions about the content of the poem : how does a word die?, when does it die? and why does it die? These questions can perhaps be met by understanding the relationships between the various constituent parts of the text.

At a first sight before the reading, the intelligent reader understands that the poem consists of six verses, however, more subtle is the subdivision of the verses in two stanzas, a division which is marked by the simple presence of a dot. All the verses are very short, so it will be read slowly, but the last of the first stanza and the last of the second are shorter than the others; brevity that highlights the two verses that make up the conclusion of what is being said in the two sequences. A first reading of the text allows to understand the function and the individual peculiarities of each of the two text sequences:

· The first tercet is a first-person narrative; here is exposed the thought of ordinary people that consider the death of a word the same moment in which it is delivered;

· The second tercet shows the thought that the narrative voice, identified with the poet, has in this regard: Emily has an opinion opposite to that of the common people: she believes that words have an unlimited life that begins again every time they are pronounced.

The contrast between what exposed in the two sequences allows the intelligent reader to answer the questions that had been placed at the time of the analysis of the title. The poet shows at the second tercet_ his personal correction of public opinion: the death of a word, understood as the loss of its meaning and not as physical death, never happens as long as this continues to be pronounced, but sets when it is forgotten. Poems and all written records are, therefore, "immortal" because there will always be someone who delivers them when he reads them.

Now, analysing the length and rhythm of the verses, the reader may notice other focal points on which the poem is focused. One of these main points is constituted by the first two lines: a run-on-line engaging two-thirds of the first sequence makes the reading faster. This union between the two verses is also underlined by the presence of a comma (a word is dead / when it is said,) that creates a pause after the expression; this highlights the general opinion about the death of a word. A second run-on-line holds the same function in the first two lines of the second stanza placing in the forefront the opinion of the poetess, opposed to the previous. The two remaining verses, the last line of each stanza, in addition to being shorter than the previous ones, are highlighted by the presence of a rhyme (say - day). This sound recording allows the intelligent reader to notice another distinction between the two text sequences:

· The word "some" in the last verse of the first tercet creates a feeling of uncertainty:

· The word "that" in the last line of the poem creates, instead, a feeling of absolute certainty.

With an accent on the last level that involves the analysis of the text (the analysis of repeated sounds in the poem), the intelligent reader can see the only thing that makes text cohesive: the distribution of repetitions to sound inside of it. The first sequence is characterized by the presence of dental consonant "d", sound that locks the reading and therefore the inclusion of other topics or viewpoints adverse than what has already been said. The exposure of the opinion of the poetess is possible thanks to the presence of repetition of another sound, repetition which also extends in the second sequence: the consonant "s" repeated creates the spreading of a liquid sound, which makes the reading more sweet and that highlights the positive opinion that, the one who writes, reports in the second triplet.

The intelligent reader can finally get the message of the text through the analysis of the semantic fields reconstructed using the words in the text. The predominant semantic field is that of time, this refers to what was said at the time of the analysis of the themes of the two triplets: poetry and the written word are not subject to the passing of time because also in future periods there will always be someone who will read bringing them back to life.