My literary analysis of the poem “A Word is Dead”.

“A Word is Dead” is a poem written by Emily Dickinson.

Taking the title into account, I reckon the poem might debate about words and their matter in society, being language an always changing feature throughout history.

The text is arranged into 2 analogue patterns: 2 tercepts (2 stanzas of 3 lines each), detached by punctuation.

Whoever is speaking tells you about two different opinions (this separation is emphasized by the structure of the layout). The first one to be explained is the common people’s one: they think a word dies the moment it is said. The speaking voice objects to this idea, telling you that it just starts to live in that moment.

The alternation of active and passive verbs underline the meaning of separation and difference between one opinion and the other, both introduced by the expression “Some say” (line 3, referred to commonalty) and “I say” (line 4, referred to the himself/herself): these two phrases get divided by a full stop, which sunders the first from the second tercept, highlighting the sense of contrast between the two views. In addition, the fact that these two phrases contain the alliteration of the letter “s” is not a coincidence, it makes the reader silent and focused on what he/she is reading, letting him/her understand clearly the two points of view.

Most words used in the context belong to the semantic field of Time, being matched with verbal tenses such as “When it is said” (l.2), “just” (l.4), “Begins to live” (l.5) or “That day” (line 6): these expressions define the relationship between the use of words and their place in time. At the same time, you can also notice how all verb tenses are expressed in the Simple Present: by doing this, mrs. Dickinson, the poetess, makes these ideas and the matter of the “Word” live forever.