"He Fumbles at Your Soul"

Poem Review # 115510

English > Analysis
Literature > Poetry

An analysis of the poem "He Fumbles at Your Soul" by Emily Dickinson.

1,013 words () | 1 source | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the poem "He fumbles at Your Soul" by Emily Dickinson gives a single description with an underlying dual meaning. It looks at how the poem presents the reader with a depiction of a storm on one level, and on another, a scene of sexual masochism. It examines how by associating these two unlikely companions, the poem has a shock value in its design that startles the reader and how in a sense, the poem itself is analogous to hearing lightning crash nearby. IThe paper contends that by contrasting and paralleling these two themes the reader is left feeling disturbed and moved, making Dickinson successful at bringing both scenes to life through their interwoven presence within the poem.

From the Paper:

"The pattern and feel to the poem reminds the reader or the regular flow of falling rain mingled with crashes of thunder as well as the strange shocks of torture from a skillful sadomasochist. Although the poem is not regular, the majority of the lines follow the ballad style, with the 6 and 8-syllable line pattern (broken at the first line and three at the middle but completely regular by the last stanza). The foot is iambic, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed giving a beat fast and regular like the patter of rain upon a roof or the regular rhythm between two people engaged in a sexual act. The rhyme scheme, although it is again not completely regular, rhymes the second and fourth line in each stanza: keys, degrees, blow, slow as well as the slant rhyme, cool, soul. "