Emily Dickinson Partner Relflection

For this overly long put off reflection (for which here is a sincere apology for that) The poem that was chosen for the sake of this reflection was Dickinson's poem that has been given the title "It sifts from leaden sieves" and that statement was stated to say that because like most of her writing it does not actually have a title and in a plea to distinguish her writings from one another someone named it after it's first line. Upon reading it the first time it was very difficult to understand and very puzzling to determine what it was referring to and it sounded like a bunch of inconceivable nonsense that had no relevance to anything, but it was also very interesting in that a quest was started to actually know what was being rambled on about. According to Sharon Leiter the mysterious object that Dickinson is alluding to is oddly enough snow of all things (Leiter), and after reading through the poem a second time that actually makes a lot of sense and thus thaought like wondering to myself how that concept did not manage to be picked up somehow. Then in further inspection into the literary criticism by this Leiter person it was actually revealed to a great extent that this poem is actually a riddle (Leiter). Leiter also has a pretty neat perspective on why Dickinson did not actually name this poem that the feeling was felt  that it should be shared here as it is very insightful and interesting. It goes that the story could be named snow "But a title would have worked against the main thrust of the poem—not simply to set a riddle before the reader, but to evoke the forever transforming, unfixable nature of the snow. To name it would be to undermine the intention of going beyond names to the mysterious essence of a phenomenon." (Leiter). Dickinson uses a great deal of fairly neat literary devices throughout this strange riddle like poem of hers. For one she uses a lot of allusion as she is constantly alluding to snow and trying to make the reader connect her poem and snow, which regrettably so to say that it was unobtainable and was unable to do. The literary device of imagery is also heavily used, to an even greater extent that the previously mentioned literary device that was mentioned earlier. The imagery is everywhere in the poem, as she talks of leaden sieves to start off with. Then she refers to alabaster wool. She uses it throughout by saying even face, of mountains and of plain, unbroken forehead, fence, it wraps it rail by rail, lost in fleeces, crystal veil, empty room, acres of seams, ruffled wrists, and ghosts. That is certainly a great deal and all the imagery probably was not even included as some was bound to be missed in that very quick run through. And to end this it should be noted that another apology is being stated for this thing being about two months late, so sorry, and this sounds weird because the formal writing style is being attempted.

"50. “It Sifts from Leaden Sieves.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." 50. “It Sifts from Leaden Sieves.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Web. 16 May 2012. 


 Leiter, Sharon. "'It sifts from Leaden Sieves—'." Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.