A WORD is dead

When it is said,

Some say.

I say it just

Begins to live

That day.

(Emily Dickinson, 1924)

Considering the title, the intelligent reader ask himself two questions.

The first is: - Why has the poets written the word "word" in the capital letters?

Then, he wonder why the poets use a personification to speak about a word.

After  the considering the layout I realize the poem is organized in two stanzas and each one consist of three lines, so they are called tercets. The poet also used very short words.

The first stanza shows the common opinion that the word is something ephemeral; some people think that words, once spoken, lose their meaning and you can't pull anything new out of them.

But in the second part, Ms. Dickinson says that it is only when a word was told and then listened that it begins to live in the memory of those who have heard or read.