Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This research explores rhetorical figures used in Emily Dickinson’s poems. Dickinson is well-known for her idiosyncratic use of language and her poem is regarded as a poetic puzzle. I attempt to understand and interpret her riddle-like use of language by analyzing rhetorical figures appearing in her poems. Her distinctive way of using language can be explicated through analyzing rhetorical figures rooted in Latin. As Susan Juhas mentions, “the irresistible lure of repetition” is easily found in Dickinson’s poems. Thus, in Dickinson’s poems, I investigate three specific rhetorical figures designating the repetition of words or phrases: 1) anaphora—repetition at the start, 2) symploce—repetition at the start and end, and 3) anadiplosis—repeating the ending at the beginning. Thus, this study analyzes how these figures are organically used in delivering each poem’s message to the reader. With a theory of figures in rhetoric in the reader’s mind, it is highly possible to find hidden meanings in Dickinson poems.