SAMPLE IDEA MAP (EXTENDED): EMILY DICKINSON

images of joy,Happiness

& freedom

images of fear, gloom

& terror

UnUsUal, eccentric

approacH to sUbjects

Especially to the subject of death

emily dickinson© The Institute of Education

tHemes

Hope

Great joy

Fear, terror

DesolationFreedom & elation

states of mind

natUredeatH

Concrete Images (metaphors and similes) used to express states of mind which are by their nature abstract

Capitalised words used to make words

that are central to the poem stand out in an arresting

manner

Dashes used to achieve the effect of normal speech; to mark off, isolate and frame

ideas and images thus causing us to pause, focus on them and

absorb their full impact

mUsical QUality

distinctive style

Uses the metre of the hymns she would have sung

as a child- trimeter and tetrameter - rhyme, alliteration

UnUsUal pUnctUation

langUage

concise, condensed - fragmentary

like diary entries -

writing for herself, not for

publication

concreteimages

Like little dramas - dramatises the highs and lows

of human feeling. Each poem has a definite setting

(a stage as it were).

Use of 1st person creates

drama and immediacy

Feelings are given a physical form. Action

verbs: bursting, dancing, swinging, beating, treading,

reeling etc.

dramatic QUality

Sudden arresting openings