WE GROW ACCUSTOMED TO THE DARK

Emily Dickinson

*Emily was a famous poet and she did not respond well to spotlight. She was in a troubled state of mind and rarely went outside, and this is the reason for her dark and mysterious poems.

*Most of her works were discovered after her death, and it was then when she became famous. The poem We Grow Accustomed to the Dark is one of her poems that was found untitled, therefore taking the name of the first line from the first line of the poem.

We grow accustomed to the Dark—When light is put away—

As when the Neighbor holds the LampTo witness her Goodbye—

A Moment— We uncertain stepFor newness of the night—

Then—fit our Vision to the Dark—And meet the Road—erect—

And so of larger—Darkness—Those Evenings of the Brain—

When not a Moon disclose a sign—Or Star—come out—within—

The Bravest—grope a little—And sometimes hit a TreeDirectly in the Forehead—But as they learn to see—

Either the Darkness alters—Or something in the sightAdjusts itself to Midnight—

And Life steps almost straight.

The speaker of the story is more than likely a woman. The way the poem is written and the diction of the poem sounds like something a woman would write.

The speaker is more than likely

middle aged and has a very dark

and pessimistic view of the world

and society as a whole.

The speaker is not addressing anyone in particular but more of a general audience.

The setting of the poem takes place at nighttime

around midnight.

The title of the poem gives the reader a clear view of

what the poem is about. The title emphasizes on how the world is a corruptive place

and we as society has accepted this fact and we have adjusted our lives

around it.

SymbolsThe lamp gets turned off in the darkness and symbolizes hopelessness and desperation. The whole poem takes place in the dark and the speaker describes herself as getting lost in the darkness. Having the lamp light up the darkness then get turned off is disappointing to the author and provides no solution to the conflict at hand.

Trees are often times known as being symbolic for wisdom. This poem talks about the emotional and physically struggles of a person. The trees play a vital role in that if there were wisdom, the troubles wouldn't be present

The other symbol is the reoccurring theme of

darkness. The darkness is symbolic for the

emotional confusion the author is portraying.

Nothing is clear in the dark, just like nothing is clear in the speaker’s

head.

As the reader reads this, the image of the lines should create

a visual effect and cause imagery. By using the

description of grope and hit a tree, the reader can relate to the

feeling and image this.

“The Bravest—grope a little—And sometimes hit a Tree”.

IMAGERY

The word dark and darkness are repeated several times throughout the poem. Every time either word is mentioned in this poem, the d is always capitalized. Emily was trying to get the message across and wanted to reader to feel what she meant by dark. She wanted the reader to really think about the dark and to have an emotional connection with the speaker.

Another important quality in this poem is all the dashes. By using the dashes, Emily was trying to convey a message that she is unsure of what is around her and was trying to create a more dramatic effect. Emily wanted the reader to experience the feelings she had by creating long, suspenseful pauses.

PARAPHRASE

Emily is trying to relate finding one's place in a corrupt society and the struggles that go with that. She describes how society adjusts to the corruptive world we live in and how we accept this fact. She compares living in this type of society to being lost in darkness. The reader can gather how Emily feels by the last stanza she wrote. Lines 17-20 state “Either the Darkness alters--Or something in the sight adjusts itself to Midnight--and life steps almost straight”. These lines clearly state what Emily thinks of the world. She claims that society had adjusted to the way we have corrupted the world and we become comfortable with it.

The main theme in this poem is the message that this world had become corrupt and society has just gone along with it. Emily is trying to find her place in society and struggles to find where she belongs. The poem could be considered implicit because to get the meaning of the poem, the reader had to read between the lines, and really think about the poem.

Theme