“I dwell in Possibility –” Introduction

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“I dwell in Possibility –” Summary

“I dwell in Possibility –” Themes

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  The Power of Poetry

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “I dwell in Possibility –”

• Lines 1-2

  I dwell in Possibility –
  A fairer House than Prose –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  More numerous of Windows –
  Superior – for Doors –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Of Chambers as the Cedars –
  Impregnable of eye –
  And for an everlasting Roof
  The Gambrels of the Sky –

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  Of Visitors – the fairest –
  For Occupation – This –
  The spreading wide my narrow Hands
  To gather Paradise –

  

  

  

  

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“I dwell in Possibility –” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Metonymy

  

  

  

  

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“I dwell in Possibility –” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Dwell
• Fairer/Fairest
• Prose
• Superior
• Chambers
• Cedars
• Impregnable
• Gambrels
• Paradise

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “I dwell in Possibility –”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“I dwell in Possibility –” Speaker

“I dwell in Possibility –” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “I dwell in Possibility –”

More “I dwell in Possibility –” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem In Dickinson's Hand — See the poem in Dickinson's own handwriting. Note those characteristic dashes!

  • The Emily Dickinson Museum — Learn more about Dickinson's life and work at the website of the Emily Dickinson museum (which is housed in her beloved family home in Amherst, Massachusetts).

  • More Dickinson Poems — Read a treasure trove of Dickinson poems.

  • Dickinson's Meter — Read a discussion of Emily Dickinson's use of meter in her poetry. 

  • Dickinson's Life and Work — Listen to experts discussing Emily Dickinson's life and work on the BBC radio show In Our Time.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • A narrow Fellow in the Grass

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!