In A Library Poem Analysis

Poetry Explication: “In a Library” by Emily Dickinson

The poem “In a Library” was written by Emily Dickinson as an expression of her love of books, and the way they can transport her. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830. Emily Dickinson was born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. She went to school, where she was an excellent student, until she was 18. She then dropped out and lived her life at home. Emily lived at home, with her sister, for many years and took care of her parents until their deaths. After both of her parents’ deaths Emily stayed home very often, and is thought by most scholars to have had depression and/or other mental illnesses. It was during this time she got most of her writing and poetry done.

She has many interesting and creative literary elements within her piece “In a Library”. Emily Dickinson uses many forms of figurative language, including many allusions, such as: “When Plato was a certainty / And Sophocles a man;” (15 and 16) to bring your mind back to a time when these books were written; to pull your mind along the same path as hers. She also uses personification quite often, “In just the dress his century wore” (3) to help bring the reader closer to the main interest of the poem, books. The setting of the poem “In a Library” is right in the title. The poem revolves around the many books that the speaker finds within a library and how they impact her, “To meet an antique book,” implies that it is not a book the speaker already owns. The poem makes a reader feel like they have to go pick up a book right now, making the mood almost a sense of longing for a good book, “His presence is enchantment, / You beg him not to go;” (25 and 26). The author also helps convey this mood through her diction. She uses phrases such as, “A precious, mouldering pleasure” (1), “A privilege” (4), “warming” (6), “enchantment” (25), and “tantalize” (28) when describing how the speaker herself feels when holding a book. Emily even goes on to use adjectives such as: “venerable” (5) to create sentences like “His venerable hand to take,” (5) to pull the theme and mood out. The form itself has no

She uses many sound patterns, all the while sticking to a fairly strict meter. An example of sound pattern used in the poem “In a Library” includes alliteration. “A precious, mouldering pleasure ‘t is… / A privilege I think,” (1 and 4). Also within the same stanza there is a glowing example of