Emily Dickinson is known for her interesting use of dashes, but I would point to her ‘vacuum settings’, common meter, and mastery of the definition poem as the defining traits of her poetry. By ‘vacuum setting’ I mean that her poetry is most often a voice in a void. There is rarely a physical setting or a description of the world, just words and ideas. She almost always wrote in common meter, which is alternating lines of eight syllables and six syllables. Finally, a plurality of her poems were definition poems, where she tries to capture an abstract idea or feeling beyond a normal definition. Although I Cannot Dance Upon My Toes isn’t a textbook definition poem, it is an exploration of an abstract feeling.
I cannot dance upon my Toes -- No Man instructed me -- But oftentimes, among my mind, A Glee possesseth me, That had I Ballet knowledge -- Would put itself abroad In Pirouette to blanch a Troupe -- Or lay a Prima, mad, And though I had no Gown of Gauze -- No Ringlet, to my Hair, Nor hopped to Audiences -- like Birds, One Claw upon the Air, Nor tossed my shape in Eider Balls, Nor rolled on wheels of snow Till I was out of sight, in sound, The House encore me so -- Nor any know I know the Art I mention -- easy -- Here -- Nor any Placard boast me -- It's full as Opera --
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