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11 Literature: Poetry Emily Dickinson82 I had been hungry

Read the poem carefully. Annotate for form, structure and poetic devices. In understanding the key themes of this poem, you need to be aware that Dickinson is using hunger,

food and wealth as metaphors. Read the poem again. What is your interpretation of her ‘hunger’ metaphor? Once you have thought about this metaphor you may answer these questions.

Stanza One:

1. What does 'all the years' suggest?Her whole life (she had been hungry – trying to fit in)

2. Why does she say 'dine' rather than 'eat'? How do the words differ?To ‘dine’ is a more sophisticated word implying there is a feast or an important meal, whereas to ‘eat’ is regular term of a basic everyday action which pales in comparison to ‘dine’.

3. What does 'trembling' indicate about the physical and/or emotional state of the speaker?By trembling is shows her hesitation and fear that what she is seeing is too good to be true and might disappear or her anticipation of finally being able to eat such food. This indicates that she may be physically/emotionally weak having been deprived of food and hungry ‘all the years.’

4. Why does the speaker merely 'touch' the wine? What is implied?She does not know what wine is, she is unfamiliar with it and just touching the wine shows her curiosity implying that she has never indulged in one of the simple pleasures of life enjoyed by the people of society.

Stanza Two:

5. How do you read the line 'I looked in windows' -literally or metaphorically?Literally she is looking through the windows from the outside, metaphorically shows her lack of belonging – the window a barrier between her and society as she looks in the window in longing and hope that one day she would be on the other side, that one day society would accept her.

6. What are the connotations of the word wealth?Materialistic meaning such as a home, furniture and in this poem food is wealth.

Stanza Three

7. What is she suggesting by 'sharing' with the birds?Sharing with the birds in ‘nature’s dining room’ (the streets) could suggest that she is homeless or that her strong connection and belonging to nature which she lacks in society.

8. The speaker didn't know how different the 'ample bread' and the 'crumb' were because she had never experienced both. Why they are different (think about what they symbolize)?The juxtaposition of the ‘ample bread’ and the ‘crumb’ highlights the difference of wealth and how alienated she is from society. The bread symbolizes the wealth the she wants to be accepted in society - to belong, to

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finally fulfill her hunger and the ‘crumb’ symbolizes her situation her whole life having lived with this insatiable hunger which motivates her to keep going to try and fulfill it.

Stanza Four9. What is the meaning and effect of the simile 'as berry of a

mountain bush/transplanted to the bush?She describes her meal as harmful and strange, comparing it with the line ‘as berry of a mountain bush/transplanted to the bush’ which uses enjambment to give a sense of disconnection and emphasizes her discomfort now that she has the wealth she always wanted. This suggests that belonging in society is not as great as she expected as she realizes that by fulfilling her hunger she ends up falsifying a sense of belonging ending in disappointment.

Stanza Five10. The speaker realizes that she is no longer hungry, i.e. she no longer desires

what she lacked 'all the year' now that it is available to her. Based on the knowledge acquired from the change in her status, she finally defines 'hunger' as'...a way/of persons outside windows/The entering takes away.' Using this definition, what is Dickinson saying about desire and fulfilment/lack and satisfaction?In her desire to fulfill her hunger, to be accepted by society was her motivation that kept her going however she realizes that once her hunger is fulfilled her motivation and passion would disappear along with it. There is irony in that last line ‘the entering takes away’ because she understands that material wealth of food will never satisfy her hunger and in this there an internal sense of belonging that has been met. However in our attempts to fulfill our hunger through materialistic wealth we create a sense of false belonging that actually prevents us from belonging to ourselves and only until we realize that we are looking in the wrong places and that staying true to yourself will we be satisfied.