“The Soul has bandaged moments” Summary

“The Soul has bandaged moments” Themes

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  The Power of Emotion

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Soul has bandaged moments”

• Lines 1-4

  The Soul has Bandaged moments —
  When too appalled to stir —
  She feels some ghastly Fright come up
  And stop to look at her —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-10

  Salute her, with long fingers —
  Caress her freezing hair —
  Sip, Goblin, from the very lips
  The Lover — hovered — o'er —
  Unworthy, that a thought so mean
  Accost a Theme — so — fair —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-14

  The soul has moments of escape —
  When bursting all the doors —
  She dances like a Bomb, abroad,
  And swings upon the Hours,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-18

  As do the Bee — delirious borne —
  Long Dungeoned from his Rose —
  Touch Liberty — then know no more —
  But Noon, and Paradise —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-24

  The Soul's retaken moments —
  When, Felon led along,
  With shackles on the plumed feet,
  And staples, in the song,
  The Horror welcomes her, again,
  These, are not brayed of Tongue —

  

  

  

  

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“The Soul has bandaged moments” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Analogy

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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“The Soul has bandaged moments” 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.

• Stir
• Ghastly Fright
• Goblin
• O'er
• Unworthy
• Mean
• Accost
• Abroad
• Hours
• Dungeoned
• Liberty
• Felon
• Shackles
• Plumed
• Staples
• Horror
• These, are not brayed of Tongue

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Soul has bandaged moments”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Soul has bandaged moments” Speaker

“The Soul has bandaged moments” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Soul has bandaged moments”

More “The Soul has bandaged moments” Resources

• External Resources

  • Dickinson's Meter — Learn more about the poet's use of meter (and particularly how it relates to hymns). 

  • The Emily Dickinson Museum — Visit the Emily Dickinson Museum's website to learn more about her life, and her poetry.

  • The Poem in Dickinson's Hand — See an image of the poem in Dickinson's own handwriting at the Emily Dickinson Archive.

  • A Discussion of Dickinson — Listen to a radio discussion about the poet. 

  • A Brief Biography — Visit the Poetry Foundation to learn more about Dickinson's life and work.

• 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 dwell in Possibility –

  • 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 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!