The Tyger And The Lamb

The poem "My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun" the speaker talks about how, she "had" stood in the corner, without a purpose. Then a hunter found her, knew her purpose since he was her "Master," and used her to express her purpose. The gun can be seen as language; the hunter's shooting-- the expression of the gun--is creating poetry. The "doe" (female deer) is hunted and presumably killed, just as women writers have to kill or suppress a part of themselves to write. Hunting in the wood re-establishes a relationship with nature. It also gives a sense of control (the Woods are "Sovereign"). The Hunter/Owner/Master may symbolize the poet-part of the speaker, poetic inspiration, or poetry itself or something else altogether. The speaker prefers to stand guard over her Master rather than share a soft downy pillow; she rejects the softer life, the homelier alternative. The speaker's purpose, power, and control are destructive and bring her joy and satisfaction, until, perhaps, the last stanza. The last stanza is difficult, tangled and perhaps indicates some confusion in Dickinson's thinking.

The poem "I started Early- Took my Dog" by Emily Dickinson has a simple enough at the literal level. A young girl walks to the sea with her dog; she enjoys herself until the tide catches her; she becomes frightened and runs to the town for safety. The metaphors "His Silver Heel" and "Pearl" describe a wave breaking and the foam. She realistically describes the feeling of being unexpectedly engulfed by a wave ("would eat me up"). The dog offers companionship but not protection. The poem also has a symbolic level. What is clear is that initially the speaker is welcomed by the Sea, then attacked and frightened by it. Less clear is what the Sea represents and what the meaning of her experience is.