Wild Nigths - Wild Nights!
by
Emily Dickinson
United States
1830-1886
Wild Nights - Wild Nights!
Were I with thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile - the Winds
To a Heart in port,
Done with the Compass
Done with the Chart!
Rowing in Eden!
Ah, the sea!
Might I but moor
Tonight in thee!
Author: Michael Forys
Published: 1919,
Wisconsin – United states
Publisher: Norton
Resource: Poems to Read
Poem Analysis
Wild Nights
– Wild Nights by Emily Dickinson
“Wild
Nights – Wild Nights!” is a Lyric poetry which written by Emily Dickinson who largely
disappeared from society. She became a local Amherst eccentric, always dressed
in white. Near the end of her life, she shunned company of any kind. In this her poem no narrative plot to report and there is no story to
tell. The poem is sustained exclamation, an extended expression of agitated
yearning for reunion with a lover.
The
theme of this poem is Dickinson expresses a side that may seem
incongruent with the conventional persona that so often relegates her to
virginal solitude.
This three-stanza poem has four line in every stanza (Quatrain)
The
rhyme scheme in this poem is there are two types.
In the
first stanza it is A-B-B-B because there word ‘’night” in the first line (A)
then “thee” “be” and “luxury” in the second until the fourth line (B). It is B
because those words have same pronunciation in the last syllable.
The
second and third stanza is A-B-C-B because just there are two words which have
same pronunciation in the last syllable; it is second line and the fourth line.
Stanza One: “Were I with thee”
Dickinson’s ardent affections appear directed at one
person. The selection of the verb “were” is a conspicuous use of the
subjunctive tense, indicating that Dickinson is separated from the person she
desires. She therefore speaks in the hypothetical, projecting forward into the
fantasy of what would happen were they to come together.
‘Luxury,’ the word which pointedly concludes the first
stanza, bears complicated meaning. It makes an oblique reference to carnality
by way of its contemporary definition, which involves excessive or superfluous
indulgence. However, its archaic dictionary definition is more direct: “lust;
lasciviousness; lechery.” Dickinson would most likely have been aware of this
antiquated definition and used it purposefully.
Stanza Two: “To a Heart in port”
In this stanza, Dickinson expresses the concentrated singularity
of her affection by using nautical metaphors. She begins the stanza with
“Futile—the Winds—/To a Heart in port—“. Here, Dickinson communicates that she
is constant, and her affection cannot be moved, even by strong winds.
The final two lines reference her having put aside the
compass and chart. Since she has found what she has been looking for, she has
put away her map and directional guide. They are no longer required.
Stanza Three: “Might I but moor”
The final stanza again employs nautical imagery. Because
of its seemingly veiled reference to intercourse, the final lines have inspired
the greatest amount of controversy. Scholars have even theorized that
Dickinson's choice of phrasing, “Might I but moor – Tonight – / In Thee!”,
indicates that she was attempting to write in a male
voice.
The
figurative language:
1. Apostrophe: the speaker in the poem is addressing someone who is not
there. We know the addressee is not in front of the speaker from line 2:
"Were I with thee," which is the subjunctive case, and it would be
completed by saying "If only I were with you," in modern vernacular,
or the way a modern person speaks.
2. There is an implied metaphor in line 2 of the second stanza, saying the heart is in a port, as if the heart
were a ship or boat. The second stanza actually seems to say the heart of the
speaker has found its favorite port and is there to stay, and a compass and
chart are not required anymore to find that place again.
3. There is alliteration in the next to the last line of stanza three
"Might I but moor" with the "m" sound getting repeated
there.
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