“I would not paint — a picture — (348)” by Emily Dickinson
I would not paint — a picture —
I’d rather be the One
It’s bright impossibility
To dwell — delicious — on —
And wonder how the fingers feel
Whose rare — celestial — stir —
Evokes so sweet a torment —
Such sumptuous — Despair —
I would not talk, like Cornets —
I’d rather be the One
Raised softly to the Ceilings –
And out, and easy on —
Through Villages of Ether —
Myself endured Balloon
By but a lip of Metal —
The pier to my Pontoon —
Nor would I be a Poet —
It’s finer — Own the Ear —
Enamored — impotent — content —
The License to revere,
A privilege so awful
What would the Dower be,
Had I the Art to stun myself
With Bolts — of Melody!
Initially reading Emily Dickinson’s poem “I would not paint — a picture — (348)” left me confused. On the outside, the formatting Dickinson uses suggests a seemingly normal poem, containing a lot of additional em dashes. However, after first reading it through, this is absolutely not the case. Dickinson uses a rhyme scheme for every stanza except for lines four through eight in the first stanza, as well as an assortment of capitalization and em dashes, seemingly at random sometimes, then later switches to commas solely for the final stanza.
Her metaphors and symbols she weaves through the poem further confused me on my second reading. Why would she “rather be the One” raised up and carried through “Villages of Ether”, only to then say she endured a “Balloon / By but a lip of Metal –” on her pontoon? Are those two things connected? Then I was wondering if whoever “the One” is is a literal balloon? Or possibly even a metaphorical balloon? But in the first stanza, why would she talk about “the One” as having fingers that feel a “rare — celestial — stir –”, evoking sweet torment? I was stuck, and I hadn’t even hit the third stanza yet.
The first thing I told myself I needed to tackle was the em dashes. As we have discussed before in class, Dickinson uses these em dashes in all of her works. Her poetry is full of them, but where the great debate over their meaning is when they are seen in other places of her writing, with some of her cooking and baking recipes harboring these em dashes as well. This begs the question of what they do for the poem.
I like to start by how I would read this poem in my head, using lines four through six to exhibit: when I read, I imagine each comma is a slight pause — the em dash in my mind is a slightly longer comma, like a beat in a script. When I read lines four through six, I read “To dwell (pause) delicious (pause) on (this em dash I first read as a thought trailing off) / And wonder how the fingers feel / Whose rare (pause) celestial (pause) stir (trailing off once again)”. However, I believe this is not the way Dickinson wanted us to read her poems. I believe she wants us to read it similarly to how you would read it with commas. These dashes aren’t meant to keep these words apart from each other, as em dashes physically look like they are doing. I believe these em dashes might be a way Dickinson connects her words and phrases to feel more fluid. When reading “I would not paint — a picture (348”, I believe these words are supposed to glide together, in the same way a classical or old English piece would. These em dashes are the lines that connect words and allow them to glide into more fluid sentences.
With a more substantial stance on what the em dashes do in this piece, I decided it was time to move on to understanding what role “the One” has in this poem. This figure was brought up in every stanza, even though it wasn’t outright stated in stanza three. It was mentioned as the narrator wishing to ‘become’ something, so to speak. In stanzas one and two, the second line in each stanza is “I’d rather be the One”, with the ‘o’ in one capitalized. This narrator, whether that is Dickinson herself or simply another person, wishes to become something more than what they already are. In the third stanza, we begin with “Nor would I be a Poet –”, acknowledging the fact that the narrator wants to change, yet still unable to become the thing they desire. This person wishes to be something, yet they cannot achieve becoming “the One”, and they cannot accomplish becoming a poet either.
As far as I understand, Dickinson uses her em dashes to help the reader glide their eyes through the poem, feeling that sense of fluidity and beauty when talking about “the One”, then dropping them when she begins to talk about becoming a Poet. The pull and fluidity of “the One” has fallen away, now talking about a person of sense and not a near god-like figure.
At the end of the day, I still don’t fully understand this poem. What exactly “the One” is supposed to represent, what the lack of rhyme scheme in the first stanza means. There are so many layers and complexities in this piece that I still have not worked out. I annotate my poem to bits and there are still things I could take apart and play with. Even if I broke this poem down line by line, I would still be far away from being able to connect every fiber in this thousand piece puzzle. Maybe with a bit more time or a different perspective, I would be able to find myself “the Art to Stun myself” with those beautiful “Bolts — of Melody!”
Hey Meg,
When I first read your poem, what immediately struck out to me is the abundance of em dashes. I have always read em dashes as a stop, a pause, to emphasize what the reader had just said. Your take on the purpose of em dashes in this poem is not the same way I would have interpreted it, but you have such a good point. From now on when I am reading quite litera;ly anything, I will make sure I reconsider the true meaning of em dashes and look at them the way you look at them, not a stop, but something that makes the poem more fluid and connects words together rather than breaking them apart. The first two lines of the poem are my favorite lines, I would not paint — a picture —I’d rather be the One”. I obviously cannot discern the exact context in which the author is referencing but it immediately takes my mind to self-love, knowing that you are worth the world, and taking your beauty and power in your own hands. That probably does not make sense in the context of the entirety of the poem, but that line made me feel euphoric. You chose a beautiful poem.
Hi Meg,
During my first reading , I felt myself getting increasingly frustrated at the structure and flow of the poem. The dashes just seemed so much in the way! In reading this poem in my head, the dashes felt like these long awkward pauses that had no real purpose. I couldn’t understand what Dickinson could be trying to say in placing the dashes where they were. However, what I found as an excellent point in your essay was that these em dashes could be used not to signify separation of thoughts, but the unity of them. However, I must admit that even with these newfound thoughts in my head, I still see these dashes as abrupt and sudden.
I also enjoyed reading about your analysis of “the One.” I always think it’s fascinating when authors choose to purposely capitalize one letter of a word that traditionally wouldn’t be capitalized. The capitalization of the letter “O” in this case puts this idea of the one on a pedestal. Except, the idea of
“The one” isn’t necessarily a concrete person in mind or a significant other but, as you said, a person that the speaker feels they will never be able to achieve.
Overall, this was a nicely written out analysis that helped me view your thought process in analyzing the poem and really dissect mine greater.
Hey, Meg! First of all, I love the poem you chose. It was cool to read another challenging Dickinson poem with a rather unique style. The unusual use of m-dashes as well as the distinctive capitalization stuck out to me and made me confused as well. There is a sort of longing nature to this poem. What you said about the m-dashes really resonated with me as I reread the poem. I always thought of m-dashes as breaks between phrases or lines, but you saw them as a way to enhance the flow and create flexibility within the poem. Reading your interpretation made me see this poem in a different light, and I think that’s why discussing poems and reading them out loud can help a lot when we face difficulty. Something I noticed were hints of alliteration such as “dwell-delicious”, “paint-a picture”, and “fingers feel”. I feel like her word choice made this poem have many layers to decipher, but the vocabulary also really helped the poem come to life. I also liked how you ended your analysis. I enjoyed your humor, and I also appreciate how you admitted that you could keep breaking it down and still find new “fibers”. Overall, your analysis was very thought-provoking!