Emancipation by Emily Dickinson
No rack can torture me,
My soul's at liberty
Behind this mortal bone
There knits a bolder one
You cannot prick with saw,
Nor rend with scymitar.
Two bodies therefore be;
Bind one, and one will flee.
The eagle of his nest
No easier divest
And gain the sky,
Than mayest thou,
Except thyself may be
Thine enemy;
Captivity is consciousness,
So's liberty.
Paraphrase of the Poem
Persona felt that persona has a freedom, a real freedom in persona’s self. It was hidden so deep in persona’s frame life and live very free as free as the clouds on the sky. No one can border this freedom no matter how hard they tried, because this is very valuable; no one can create it and no one can buy it. There is God, the only substance who can create it and then gave it to persona so that persona became a real life creature. Without it, persona is nothing. Persona will fight as hard as he/she could anything who/which wanted to border this freedom. Persona will do anything to protect persona’s freedom and let it flourish in persona’s self. And once again, no one can border this freedom. But unfortunately the statement which was sound that no one can border this freedom was wrong. There is one thing who/which can border this freedom. That is persona itself. If persona don’t believed that he/she has a freedom in his/her self or thought as a weak creature that couldn’t make or do something awesome or spectacular, then probably persona will border or loss his/her freedom. Because that thought made persona become a paranoid. Persona will easily to give up and always feel afraid to do something or to make some innovations in persona’s life, feel afraid if he/she made a mistake. So, the real enemy is not come from the outside, but it comes from inside of persona’s self which is persona’s faith to the power of its freedom. If persona wanted his/her freedom exist forever in persona’s self, he/she insisted trust to his/her self that he/she have this freedom in his/her self and realize that actually he/she is able to use this freedom to make a great life.
Denotation & Connotation Analysis
First main keyword is “liberty” (first stanza, line two). The denotation is the legal right to do as you choose. The connotation is freedom. The supporting keywords are “no rack can torture me” (first stanza, line one), “knits” (first stanza, line four), and “bolder” (first stanza, line four). The sentence “no rack can torture me” represent a faith that there is no one who/which can border the persona’s freedom. The word “knits” represent the right of freedom that persona have in his/her self. The word “bolder” represent a sense of courage which produced by the faith to the right of freedom. So I interpreted that persona has a faith if he/she has the right of freedom in his/her self and there is no one who/which can border it freedom. Persona also believed if this right of freedom will give his/her self a sense of courage to be able to survive in this world.
Second main keyword is “cannot” (second stanza, line one). The denotation is used to say that it is impossible for someone or something to do something, or for something to happen. The connotation is has no ability. The supporting keywords are “prick with saw” (second stanza, line one), “rend with scymitar” (second stanza, line two), “bind” (second stanza, line four), and “flee” (second stanza, line four). The phrase “prick with saw” represent a disturbance which could threaten the existence of persona’s freedom. The phrase “rend with scymitar” also represent a disturbance which could threaten the existence of persona’s freedom. The word “bind” represent the persona’s feeling toward that disturbance. The word “flee” represent the persona’s action toward that disturbance. So I interpreted that there were some disturbance which could threaten the existence of persona’s freedom. Persona felt if that threat was an effort to border persona’s freedom. But persona has a faith that every one has no ability to border his/her freedom. So, with a sense of courage from the power of it freedom, persona succeed to fight and escape from the threat.
Third main keyword is “easier” (third stanza, line two). The denotation is done or obtained without a lot of effort or problems. The connotation is simple. The supporting keywords are “divest” (third stanza, line two) and “gain the sky” (third stanza, line three). The word “divest” represent some burdens or problems in the past and present which will be thrown away or solved by persona. The phrase “gain the sky” represent something like a goal of life which will be reached by persona. So I interpreted it will be simple for persona to solve all the problems or throw away all the burdens and reach the goal of life if persona always trust to the power of freedom in his/her self. If persona trust to the power of his/her self freedom, he/she can explore his/her ability and creativity to achieve or reach his/her goal of life and easily solve or throw away his/her problems or burdens. Otherwise, if persona do not trust to the power of his/her self freedom, he/she will always feel constrained to do something and cannot explore his/her ability and creativity. Then persona will feel difficult to achieve or reach his/her goal of life and throw away or solve all his/her burdens or problems. So, it’s depend persona itself to choose.
Fourth main keyword is “consciousness” (fourth stanza, line three). The denotation is the state of being able to use your senses and mental powers to understand what is happening. The connotation is awareness. The supporting keywords are “thyself” (fourth stanza, line one) and “thine enemy” (fourth stanza, line two). The word “thyself” represent the persona’s self; the one (instead God) who can determine its destiny. The phrase “thine enemy” also represent the persona’s self, but as the real obstacle in the way to use and defend its freedom. So I interpreted that persona insisted has awareness that the real suspect who very potentially border his/her freedom is his/her own self. Persona itself is the one (instead God) who can determine his/her destiny; to use and defend the freedom or ignore the freedom.
Related to the denotation and connotation analysis above, this poetry contain of two messages. First message, every life creature has the right of freedom. Second message, our self is the only thing who/which can make the freedom exist or not exist. The first message, every life creature has the right of freedom, had a relation with the interpretation of the first main keyword. It proved that in the first main keyword of denotation and connotation analysis, I interpreted that persona has a faith if he/she has the right of freedom in his/her self and there is no one who/which can border it freedom. The second message, our self is the only thing who/which can make the freedom exist or not exist, had a relation with the interpretation of the second, third, and fourth main keyword. It proved that in the second keyword of denotation and connotation analysis, I interpreted that persona has a faith that every one has no ability to border his/her freedom and with a sense of courage from the power of it freedom, persona succeed to fight and escape from the threat. In the third keyword of denotation and connotation analysis, I interpreted that it’s depend persona itself to choose trust to the power of his/her self freedom to achieve his/her goal of life and easily solve or throw away his/her problems or burdens, or do not trust to the power of his/her self freedom and got some difficulties to achieve or reach his/her goal of life and throw away or solve all his/her burdens or problems. In the fourth keyword of denotation and connotation analysis, I interpreted that persona itself is the one (instead God) who can determine his/her destiny; to use and defend the freedom or ignore the freedom.
Imagery Analysis
This poetry contains of two imageries. There are visual imagery and kinesthetic imagery. First is visual imagery which is contained in the word “liberty” (first stanza, line two) and “enemy” (fourth stanza, line two). These words show that persona believes if he/she has a freedom to do anything in his/her life as long as persona is responsible with it. This freedom is existed since persona was in the womb. This freedom is absolute. No one can disturb the existence except persona itself. It means that if persona really believes that he/she has a right of freedom and then use the freedom wisely to run and develop his/her life, the freedom will keep exist. But if persona do not believes or maybe doubt that he/she has a right of freedom and its power, and then always border his/her ability or anything in his/her life, the freedom will blow up. That’s all depends on persona itself, the only one who can decided.
Second is kinesthetic imagery which is contained in the word “torture” (first stanza, line one), “prick” (second stanza, line one), “rend” (second stanza, line two), “bind’ (second stanza, line four), “flee” (second stanza, line four), “divest” (third stanza, line two), and “gain” (third stanza, line three). These words show that all threatens or disturbances which are very potential to threat and disturb the existence of persona’s freedom. All threatens and disturbances can be come from outside or inside persona’s self. But the most dangerous threatens or disturbances are come from inside of persona’s self which related with persona’s belief and can make persona loss his/her freedom. The words also show how persona’s reaction or action toward threatens or disturbances; surrender or keep fighting. If persona decided to surrender with that, his/her freedom will be bordered or maybe gone. But if persona keep fighting and never give up with that, he/she will escape, keep the freedom, and use the freedom to reach his/her goal of life.
Related to the imagery analysis above, this poetry contain of two messages. First message, believes that you have a freedom and its power. Second message, keep or you will loss the freedom. The first message, believes that you have a freedom and its power, has a relation with the explanation of the first imagery, visual imagery. It proved that in the visual imagery I explain that the words “liberty” and “enemy” show that persona believes if he/she has a freedom to do anything in his/her life. It means if persona believes with his/her self freedom, then this believe will create a power to help persona to run his/her life, to get what he/she wants, and to keep the existence of the freedom it self. Second message, keep or you will loss the freedom, has a relation with the explanation of the second imagery, kinesthetic imagery. It proved that in the kinesthetic imagery I explain that the words “bind”, “flee”, “divest”, and “gain” show how persona’s reaction or action, surrender or keep fighting, toward threatens or disturbances which threat and disturb persona’s freedom. If persona always keeps his/her freedom’s existence, he/she will feel live in the sky and achieve the sweet result later. But if persona loss it, he/she will feel life in a cage and achieve nothing.
Figurative Language Analysis
This poetry contains of two figurative languages. There are metonymy and allegory. The first figurative language, metonymy, can be found in the word “divest” (third stanza, line two) and “gain” (third stanza, line three). By using these words, Emily Dickinson tries to substitute some words with another words with which it closely associated. In this poetry, Emily Dickinson use the words “divest” and “gain” above to describe about the easiness to feel that we have lost our freedom and then border our own self, and the difficulties to achieve or realization our dreams because we feel doubtful with the power of our freedom who actually can bring us to the glory if we really believe with it. Because “divest” is closely associated with “lost”, and “gain” is closely associated with “bring to something”.
The second figurative language, allegory, can be found in the sentences “no rack can torture me” (first stanza, line one), “you cannot prick with saw” (second stanza, line one), “nor rend with scymitar” (second stanza, line two), and “the eagle of his nest” (third stanza, line one). By using these sentences, Emily Dickinson tries to give the literal meaning and the symbolic meaning of the words or phrases or sentences. In this poetry, the literary meaning of the sentences “no rack can torture me”, “you cannot prick with saw”, and “nor rend with scymitar” is there is no one else who can disturb someone’s freedom. The symbolic meaning is someone who has seriousness to protect his/her freedom. Then the literary meaning of the sentence “the eagle of his nest” is someone who let him/her self bordered because he/she don’t want to develop his/her self and his/her abilities, and it because he/she feels doubtful with the power of freedom that he/she has. The symbolic meaning is a person who lost his/her freedom and life like in a cage which cannot do something.
Related to the figurative language analysis above, this poetry contains two messages. First message, the glory is something which is easy to go but difficult to come. Second message, don’t let your self border your own freedom. These messages have a relation with the explanation of the figurative language analysis. It proved in the explanation of metonymy and allegory that Emily Dickinson describe about the easiness to feel that we have lost our freedom and then border our own self, and the difficulties to achieve our dreams, also let our self bordered and don’t want to develop it, because of the doubtful feeling of the freedom’s power.
Tone Analysis
When I read this poetry for the first time, I feel that this poetry is an excited poetry. This poetry is an excited poetry because there are words “liberty” (first stanza, line two), “bolder” (first stanza, line four), phrases “cannot prick with saw” (second stanza, line one), “nor rend with scymitar” (second stanza, line two), “no easier divest” (third stanza, line two), and “gain the sky” (third stanza, line three). The words “liberty” and “bolder” are refer to the persona’s believes toward his/her freedom in his/her self and its power. The believes of freedom and its power make persona feels optimistic and enthusiastic to do anything as long as positive to run his/her life and to get his/her dream or goal. The phrases “cannot prick with saw” and “nor rend with scymitar” are refer to the persona’s optimistic feeling to defend the existence of his/her freedom in his/her self. Persona believes if he/she can keep his/her freedom’s existence and will summon up all his/her ability to do that. The phrases “no easier divest” and “gain the sky” are refer to the process of persona’s struggle in the way to defend the freedom keep exist and the result of persona’s struggle which finally he/she can catch his/her dream or goal.
Related to the tone analysis above, this poetry contains a message. The message is always be optimist and keep fighting in the way to realization our dream or achieve our goal in life. This message has a relation with the explanation of the tone analysis. It proved that in the tone analysis above, the words “liberty” and “bolder”, and the phrases “cannot prick with saw”, “nor rend with scymitar”, “no easier divest”, and “gain the sky” are refer to the persona’s believes toward his/her freedom, optimistic feeling to defend the existence of his/her freedom, the process of persona’s struggle in the way to defend the freedom keep exist, and the result of the struggle which is get the dream in the hand.
Meter Analysis
Every stanza of this poetry consists of four lines. In the first stanza line one, there is dactylic dimeter. So this line concern about persona’s feeling of decline to someone who wants to grab or border his/her freedom. In the first stanza line two, there are iambic monometer and trochaic monometer. So this line concern about persona’s feeling which recollective with the freedom of his/her self, and persona also feels that he/she very confident to own the freedom. In the first stanza line three, there are trochaic monometer and dactylic monometer. So this line concerns about persona’s confidence with the freedom and the feeling of decline to loss it. In the first stanza line four, there are iambic monometer and trochaic monometer. So same like line two, this line concern about persona’s feeling which recollective with the freedom of his/her self, and feels that he/she is very confident to own the freedom.
In the second stanza line one, there are iambic monometer and trochaic monometer. So this line concerns about persona’s certainty to keep his/her freedom exist and decline all of disturbances. In the second stanza line two, there are trochaic monometer and iambic monometer. So this line concerns about persona’s certainty to fight the disturbance who/which wants to bother his/her freedom. In the second stanza line three, there are iambic dimeter and trochaic monometer. So this line concern about persona who thoughtful and be assertive to struggle his/her freedom. In the second stanza line four, there are iambic dimeter and trochaic monometer. So this line concern with persona’s action, thoughtful and assertive in faces the disturbance.
In the third stanza line one, there are iambic monometer and trochaic monometer. So this line concern about persona’s feeling which recollective with his/her self confidence to use the freedom. In the third stanza line two, there is trochaic dimeter. So this line concern if suddenly persona feels doubtful with his/her freedom’s power. In the third stanza line three, there are iambic monometer and trochaic monometer. So this line concern that persona’s feeling about the power of his/her freedom is changing from uncertainly or doubtful to certainly, and he/she also become confident again. In the third stanza line four, there is trochaic dimeter. So this line concerns that after persona becomes confident again, he/she sure that he/she can conquered many challenges in this world to make his/her dream come true.
In the fourth stanza line one, there are trochaic dimeter and iambic monometer. So this line concerns that persona certain if the only one enemy who can border the freedom is persona itself. In the fourth stanza line two, there is trochaic monometer. So this line concerns that persona must be assertive with his/her self to keep the freedom exist and must be confident to show and use the freedom. In the fourth stanza line three, there are trochaic monometer and dactylic monometer. So this line concerns if persona insist to always trust to his/her self ability and not easily become sad or desperate to face the life problems which can disturb his/her freedom. In the fourth stanza line four, there is trochaic monometer. So this line concern that actually persona feels very proud to own the freedom.
So, this poetry contains three kinds of foot. There are trochee, iamb, and dactyl. The amount of trochee foot which I found in this poetry is eighteen. The amount of iamb foot which I found in this poetry is eleven. The amount of dactyl foot which I found in this poetry is four. The most foot which found in this poetry is trochee. So it can be concluded that Emily Dickinson used trochaic meter in the whole poem, which means assertive or confident. This assertive or confident feeling came from the Emily Dickinson’s self who channeled in every word, phrase, and sentence in this poetry and then the delivery of this poetry is represented by persona. Then it can be said if the assertive or confident it self means that persona believes that he/she has the right of freedom. Persona feels so proud and confident to own the freedom, because he/she can do anything that he/she wants to achieve the top of life or goal. So persona will do anything to struggle his/her freedom and fight the all the obstacles which want to obstruct his/her self freedom.
Related to the meter analysis above, this poetry contains a message. The message is always strives your freedom because the freedom is very important to help you life in this world. This message has a relation with the explanation of the meter analysis. It proved that meter of this poetry is assertive or confident. It means someone assertiveness or confidence believes with the freedom power that he/she has, and this person will struggle the freedom in order to survive in this hard life and achieve his/her goals or dreams.
Theme
According to the five kinds of analysis, this poetry contains of seven messages. First message, every life creature has the right of freedom. Second message, our self is the only thing who/which can make the freedom exist or not exist. Third message, believes that you have a freedom and its power. Second message, keep or you will loss the freedom. Fourth message, the glory is something which is easy to go but difficult to come. Five message, don’t let your self border your own freedom. Sixth message, always be optimist and keep fighting in the way to realization our dream or achieve our goal in life. Seventh message, always strives your freedom because the freedom is very important to help you life in this world. So I concluded that the theme of this poetry is self-freedom emancipation. It is because in general, the idea of this poetry is that the struggle of someone to keep or protect his/her freedom because the emancipation to own the self-freedom is very important to determine everyone’s life survival and to achieve the glory.
(Friday, February 5th, 2010)
thanks
BalasHapus