This is My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson: An Analysis

Hareshwar Roy,
English Literature Text:

This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me—
The simple News that Nature told—
With tender Majesty

Her Message is committed
To Hands I cannot see—
For love of Her—Sweet—countrymen—
Judge tenderly—of Me

An Analysis of the Poem:

This is my letter to the World is a beautiful poem by Emily Dickinson. It has attracted considerable critical attention. It is a short lyric but it is lovely enough. It was published in 1890 and since then it has been attracting the attention of countless readers of this entire world.

This is my letter to the World has been divided into two stanzas. Each stanza has six lines. The first stanza of the poem deals with the frustration of the poet and the last one deals with poet’s hope.

In the beginning part of the poem the poet regards herself as the messenger of Mother Nature. She considers her poetry as the record of that message. The entire world appears as her audience. She regularly records the message of nature sincerely and faithfully. She tries her best to convey it to the wide world through her poetry. But alas! The world does never write to her. In other words, the wide world fails to appreciate her. This world fails to understand her poetry. That is why she never receives letters of appreciation. She does never find praise and encouragement from it. Such is the fate of those who write under direct inspiration. Such is the fate of those who act as the messengers of nature. In short, the poet is of the view that those who hold high ideals of art are not appreciated. Consequently they suffer from frustration.

The second stanza of the composition deals with the hope of the poet. Here the poet does not appear as frustrated even by persistent negligence. She hopes that the readers of the future generation will understand her message. They will surely appreciate her poetry. She hands over her message those unseen appreciators. She hopes that they would love nature and that is why they would show greater appreciation for her poetry. This is the hope that inspires her to do her job sincerely.


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Location: B-37, City Homes Colony, Jawahar Nagar Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India
Currently Dr. Roy is working as Professor of English at Govt. P.G. College Satna, Madhya Pradesh. He is the author of the following books: (1) Diasporic Articulation in the Novels of M.G. Vassanji (2) A Study of M.G. Vassanji 's Novels (3) Varieties of Indianity in the Works of M.G. Vassanji & Rohinton Mistry (4)Diaspora & Indian Diaspora: A Brief Study (5) Short Notes of English Literature - I (6) Short Notes of English Literature - II (7) हमार पहचान ह भोजपुरी - भोजपुरी कविता संकलन (8) हमरा प्यार हो गइल - भोजपुरी गज़ल संकलन (9) भोजपुरी कविताएँ

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