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If You Were Coming In The Fall Figurative Language

Decent Essays

“If You Were Coming in the Fall” is a fascinating poem written by Emily Dickinson around the 1860’s. Many images and messages are skillfully woven in this classic piece of literature. Throughout the poem, Emily Dickinson employs an abundance of figurative language to create an image of a woman desperately waiting for her lover’s return. To better understand the poem, it would behoove one to first understand the author. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts and had an introverted personality. She rarely left the vicinity of her home and very few people visited her. However, despite not having many guests, every person that visited her impacted her life. Some of her visitors were men and, needless to say, she …show more content…

This imagery paints a clear picture of someone who is desperately waiting for time to pass, and it conveys the experience in a way that is understandable for the audience. In addition to the use of imagery, the author also employs copious amounts similes. For instance, in the last two lines of her poem, Dickinson pens: “It goads me like the Goblin Bee,/ That will not state its …show more content…

(13-16)

When paraphrased, the stanza above states that if the speaker is certain that she and her lover can be reunited again after death, she would enthusiastically take her own life knowing that her lover is waiting on the other side. By saying so, the speaker is considering life worthless if she cannot meet her lover. What many people call the “most valuable gift” is considered to be of no value in the eyes of the speaker if she cannot spend it with the one she loves. In addition to that statement, the author writes in stanza 3: If only centuries delayed, I’d count them on my hand, Subtracting till my fingers dropped Into Van Diemen’s land.
If the speaker knows for sure that she could see her lover again, she would be willing to wait for years, decades, and even centuries if she knew for sure that they would meet. Based on the text, the speaker only wishes to have a confirmation that their reunion will be certain. What happens between now and the moment they meet will not be of any significance. Moreover, the speaker states that she would willingly endure anything in order to have that confirmation, even death. Altogether, these two stanzas direct the reader to the overall theme of the

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