"Setting Sail" and Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is one of the most famous poets ever to live.  While many did not know her during her lifetime, after her death her poetry became popular among everyone.  When she was alive, Dickinson was a secluded person and would spend much time alone in her room writing poetry.  Her style, diction, and meter are key to her poetry.  A subject not commonly related to Dickinson and her poetry is sailing.  Like Dickinson’s poetry, sailing has an air of seclusion and a distinct sense of order, its timeless attraction to everyone.

Dickinson is known to have lived a life of isolation.  She communicated mainly through letters to colleagues and her poetry that was later discovered.  This seclusion from the outer world is one of the parts of Emily Dickinson’s life that makes her famous.  “Scholars have also speculated that she suffered from conditions such as agoraphobia, depression and/or anxiety,” (Bio.).  In sailing, sometimes there will be a crew in the boat, so not complete isolation from every human being on earth, but there comes a point when you will reach the spot over the horizon where no land can be seen from the boat.  At this point, you are completely secluded from the rest of the world.

When sailing, there has always been an air surrounding the activity of order and uniformness.  On sailboats, a common task is to keep the boat in “ship shape,” as some people call it.  The crew must work night and day to not only keep the sailboat moving forward, but also to maintain it and keep everything consistently working.  Emily Dickinson uses in her poetry, a specific meter known as the 8-6-8-6.  This means that the poetry is written with the first line being made up of 8 syllables and the next line with 6 syllables and alternating so on to the end.  An example of this is her poem, Snowflakes:

I counted till they danced so

Their slippers leaped the town –

And then I took a pencil

To note the rebels down –

And then they grew so jolly

I did resign the prig –

And ten of my once stately toes

Are marshalled for a jig!

(Dickinson, Snowflakes)

In this poem, the 8-6-8-6 meter is used and it creates a noticeable rhythm.  You can say that all of Emily Dickinson’s poetry can be sung to a simple folk tune and it would sound the same.  Most of her poetry rhymes, adding to the standardization of her poetry.

Emily Dickinson’s poetry has lived on well past Dickinson herself has.  Today, scholars continue to scour her journals and letters for glimpses into her mind and the genius that lies within.  Discussions on why she was so secluded include her possible mental health problems or the traumatic deaths in her life.  Other times her poetry requires scholars to delve deep into her writing to examine the deeper meanings.  Similarly, sailing has seen more popular days, but nonetheless people still love it.  In the beginning of human history, sailing was almost as necessary as breathing like making the world connected, and still today, there are some massive boats that are using sails to save fuel on cargo.  Sailing continues to awe people and professional sailors compete in world class events such as the famed America’s Cup and the insanely difficult Volvo Ocean Race.  For a sport without much media attention, these two events draw thousands of people crowds.

To finish, I will conclude this blog post with another Emily Dickinson poem:

Time and Eternity, Poem 7: Setting Sail

Exultation is the going

Of an inland soul to sea, -

Past the houses, past the headlands,

Into deep Eternity!

Bred as we, among the mountains,

Can the sailor understand

The divine intoxication
Of the first league out of land?