As Dashes as Bookshelves

Muna Salad

Why does Emily Dickinson use dashes? What are their primary function in the poems? Many readers ignore the dashes while they read, but some incorporate the dashes to the overall purpose of the poem. Even though dash's troubled a lot of readers, many readers later considered it as a gap, pause or disrupt in the poem. The dashes that Emily Dickinson uses in her poems are comparable to the bookshelves in libraries because their functions are similar. In my opinion, the dashes in Emily’s poems divide words with differents ideas just like lines in bookshelves divide books with different subjects, and in the meantime,  dashes also combine words with same theme together just like small boxes in the bookshelves combine books with the same subject. . Also, dashes combine words that somewhat rhymes just like bookshelves combine books that somewhat have the same levels.

Instead of commas and periods, Emily Dickinson uses dashes to divide thoughts and ideas just like lines in the bookshelves divide books with different ideas. In many of Emily Dickinson’s poems, there is no single period at the end of stanzas or sentences, so she uses her dashes as punctuation marks.  It is essential to use punctuation marks when shifting ideas, so the dash’s main function in Emily’s poems is “To indicate interruption or abrupt shift in thought.” In one of her poems, Emily writes, “"Faith" is a fine invention /When Gentlemen can see—/But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency.” In this poem, Emily uses the dash to gap two completely distinctive thoughts that she was comparing.  Lines in bookshelves also have similar function because they divide books with different ideas. For example, biology and chemistry fall in the science category, but lines separate the two when looking at bookshelves according to their subject differences. (Emily Dickinson, “Faith Is A fine Invention” );(“Common Questions on Emily Dickinson” D.Campbell.)   

In the same way, the dashes also combine words that share the same theme and motive together just like bookshelf boxes contain the combination of books with same subject. For example, many of the dashes in Emily’s poems enclose words, and usually these dashes stress these words or show their relationship to each other. In her poem, “Nature is What We See”, Emily Dickinson uses dashes to enclose important words in the poem like “_Nature is Heaven_” and “_Nature is Harmony_”. Emily also uses dashes from these phrases to show their significance in the poem. Even though this is not the case for some of her poems, using dashes to group significant words is her ultimate goal for some of her poems. (Emily Dickinson, “Nature is What We See)”

Emily Dickinson also uses dashes to group or combine words that somewhat rhyme together just like bookshelves group books that are somewhat in the same level. Emily Dickinson doesn’t often use perfect rhymes, but sometimes, her poems rhyme with unexpected order. In the previous example, “_Nature is Heaven_” and “_Nature is Harmony_”, harmony and heaven rhyme even though one of them is in the fourth line of the poem and the other one is in the eighth line of the poem. In the same sense, books in bookshelves are not perfectly ordered from the bottom level to the top level, but level is very significant when ordering them. For example, you wouldn’t find an adult novel in the children's section. (Emily Dickinson, “Nature is What We See)

Given these points, Emily Dickinson’s use of dashes in her poems function just like bookshelves in libraries. While the small boxes in bookshelves combine books with the same subjects, dashes combine significant words to emphasize them. In the same way, the dashes also divide words that encompass different ideas and thoughts just like the lines in bookshelves divide books that encompass different subjects. Lastly, bookshelves assemble books in the same level while dashes assemble words that somewhat rhyme with each other.