ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -This brief poem uses three quatrains (four-line stanzas), almost every line of which ends in one of Dickinson’s favorite punctuation marks: the dash.

Detailed explanation-2: -Dickinson most often punctuated her poems with dashes, rather than the more expected array of periods, commas, and other punctuation marks.

Detailed explanation-3: -While it seems she arbitrarily scatters her punctuation without purpose, its placement actually plays a vital role in shaping Dickinson’s messages. Her punctuation–specifically her use of dashes–can both deliver and obscure a theme, can both lead and trick a reader.

Detailed explanation-4: -Emily Dickinson’s writing style is most certainly unique. She used extensive dashes, dots, and unconventional capitalization, in addition to vivid imagery and idiosyncratic vocabulary. Instead of using pentameter, she was more inclined to use trimester, tetrameter, and even dimeter at times.

Detailed explanation-5: -The meter of “The Soul selects her own Society” is much more irregular and halting than the typical Dickinson poem, although it still roughly fits her usual structure: iambic trimeter with the occasional line in tetrameter.