Patriarchial Times, it still exist by Wanda

“My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun -”(2584) This poem is about Emily Dickinson suppression of life long rage. She called herself the gun because she is upset that she can not be recognized as a poet. She might be suggesting that, at times, she is so mad, she could explode. Today, the work place is an example of a place where women might experience this type of double standard. They perform the same work that their male coworkers, yet they get paid less. Dickinson lived a life of solitude and isolation by choice. currently you are find more and more women opting to be alone. She often retreated to familiar territory, staying in her room. During the time when the family was very patriarchal, she sought to guard her family by keeping quiet. Being out spoken with her writings and demanding notoriety, she would have offended father and the male dominate society. Her father took more interest in her brothers work while ignoring Dickinson’s "needle point." Dickinson's work was diminished, and to some extent, womens work continues to be reduced today. In her poem she declares,

“My Life stood - a Loaded Gun -
In corners - till a Day
The Owner passes - identified -
And carried Me away -”(1-4).

“I’m “wife” - I’ve finished that -”(2562). Here, Dickinson again takes a back seat in the powerful male society as a married woman. She would be free of pain residing in the safe, secure, comfortable place of marriage. She stated that she was done with her childhood. In the Bible, it is written, " When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man,I put away childish things"(1 Corinthians 13:11). Dickinson stated that she had left the confusion and lack of experience behind her. She is a woman now. Accepting that she still has some power when she consummates her union with her husband; she insisted, “I’m Czar - I’m “Woman” now -”(3). There is no need to question who I am when she writes,

“This being comfort - then
That other kind - was pain -
But Why compare?
I’m “Wife”! Stop there!”(9-12)

Like the other two poems that robs women of their power; Dickinson’s poem “Title divine--is mine!” marches women toward the bottom of the hierarchy. It suggest a connection with marriage and religion. Here, she shows her spiritual union with God, she is “The Wife without the Sign-”(1). She recognize women’s subservient position to their husbands. “My Husband” - Women say”(13), meant that wives attempt to enhance their esteem by glorifying their husbands. Dickinson feels that if she marries the Lord and resides with him she will have to sacrifice her artistry and become “Born - Bridalled - Shrouded -”(10). The Bible orders us to, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). She also stated that her life could change in a blink of the eye when she stated, “In a Day”(11). This could be why she wore white and stayed single with the idea that she had to be unblemished. She could not bring herself to God, no other way then pure. Living a simple life she was sure to be accepted into the kingdom of Heaven.

Although, Elizabeth Emily Dickinson was sadden by the denial of publication for many of her poems and her father did not acknowledge her as a poet, it is clear that she was a very gifted poet. Living in a time when patriarchy was a way of life. She continued to write in spite of rejection and disappointment. She must have known that her work would be published or she would not have taken the time to organize them in bundles.

King James Version Bible

Dickinson, Emily. "191,225,764." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.Ed.

Nina Baym, New York. Norton. 2007. (2561, 2562, 2584).