Emily Dickinson's #1653 (p.3)

1.  What is this poem saying about people?

2.  This entire poem is an analogy.  Can you explain how?

2 comments:

  1. In the poem, “1653” by Emily Dickinson, people are communicating without knowing it. “As we pass houses musing slow”, this is saying that people wonder who live in the place which they are passing by. Implying that people acknowledge that someone might be living there. “ So minds pass minds”, people want their thoughts to be considered while passing by and critiquing. Overall, there is a sense of acknowledgement of the people who live and pass by the houses.

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  2. Question 2: "1653" by Emily Dickinson compares the tendencies of human interaction to the way a human interacts with a house. Like an analogy a simile compares something. However a simile requires a word to indicate comparison, for example: like, or as. Also, Emily Dickinson has been known not rearrange phrases in order to improve the fluidity. the whole poem is one rearranged statement. Original: "as we pass Houses musing slow/ If they be occupied/ so minds pass minds/ If they be occupied". Rearranged: we pass other people, thinking about what is inside as if we were passing a house, thinking about what is inside. As you can see she uses the word "as" to compare the way humans think about what inside of a "House" and another person. The use of the analogy/simile/comparison of these two things makes the human seem lesser, that another human being is only but another object.

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