I stepped from Plank to Plank is a poem which seeks to convey an overarching message on life and experiences. In the first stanza, the speaker steps plank to plank "A slow and cautious way", emphasizing the lack of speed and great concentration to her steps. This movement is precise and the cautiousness implies that the speaker is trying to avoid something. Since this is an abstract poem, what the speaker is trying to avoid maybe something as large and vague as fear itself or something personal to the speaker. The next line "The Stars about my Head I felt/About my Feet the sea -" portrays two opposites of nature; the stars are above while the sea is below. I think this line serves to illuminate the setting of the poem. In our small class discussions, my group interpreted the speaker to be walking across a bridge or a dock with unstable planks. The stars also imply that the poem takes place during nighttime, therefore the speaker is more aware of her movements. We thought that the sea could be the destination or signifying how the speaker is paying attention the sea around her feet so as not to drown in the sea.
In the second stanza, I think diction plays an important role to convey the central purpose of the poem. The first two lines "I knew not but the next/Would be my final inch -" shows uncertainty of death or the final destination. It signifies that the speaker is inferior in her knowledge of the future, the only thing she is certain of is that death would be the final step. The "final inch" emphasizes the calculation and length of her steps; each step brings you closer to the final step. The word "final" also indicates the end of something, in this case the end of your life. The last two lines communicate the central purpose of the poem of how life consists of many uncertainties and the only certainty is that your final step will lead you to death. The phrase "precarious Gait" is related to the word "Experience". "Precarious" indicates dependence on uncertain conditions while "Gait" is the manner of walking. The word "Experience" usually has positive connotations because it is something valuable you gain in life which I thought contrasts the doubt in "precarious Gait".
Yeah, the speaker doesn't know whether or not her next move/step will bring her to her demise. But I thought it interesting how the speaker used the word "inch" to describe her movement. It shows that not only is she slow and cautious, she also takes tiny steps at a time. She goes through her life moment by moment, it doesn't seem very exciting or dramatic but somehow she believes her life could end any moment. I just wonder why the speaker is so uncertain about her own life that she would feel the need to live so slowly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your interpretation. I thought the stars in the sky were possible dreams that she has. Just like how we say: our life lays in the hands of fate, and in this case fate can be represented as stars. I feel like throughout the poem the speaker is uncertain about her last breath and so she tries to stay on the planks and not lose her balance so that she can still live. A deeper interpretation would be that the planks could even represent life and not being able to predict what will happen next.
ReplyDeleteI thought your mention of how the speaker is inferior in her knowledge of the future was very interesting. It seems a common theme in Emily Dickinson's poems to address darkness frequently and point out the lack of control one has over their future. Here, with your analysis, this was particularly obvious. She wants to point out to the reader that it's impossible to know exactly what will happen between now and death. The only certainty possible is the knowledge that one day, death, or that "final inch" will come.
ReplyDeleteOh I thought she was gonna commit suicide
ReplyDelete