Question

Which of these excerpts from poems by Emily Dickinson uses irony? My cocoon tightens, colors tease, I'm feeling for the air; A dim capacity for wings Degrades the dress I wear. Could she have guessed that it would be; Could but a crier of the glee Have climbed the distant hill; Had not the bliss so slow a pace, — Who knows but this surrendered face Were undefeated still? One dignity delays for all, One mitred afternoon. None can avoid this purple, None evade this crown. There's a certain slant of light, On winter afternoons, That oppresses, like the weight Of cathedral tunes. Heavenly hurt it gives us; We can find no scar, But internal difference Where the meanings are. Exultation is the going Of an inland soul to sea, — Past the houses, past the headlands, Into deep eternity!

Answer 1

"Who knows but this surrendered face were undefeated still." If something surrenders, it implies it has been defeated. "Heavenly hurt" does seem to be ironic too though. Hope this helped.

Answer 2

well In my opinion, the whole poem is quite ironic - although she is mentioning the exultation and the royal color of death, the poem itself begins with the narrator saying that she cannot breathe - that she doesn't want to die.

So, I would say that the ironic parts are:

Exultation is the going

Of an inland soul to sea, -

Past the houses, past the headlands,

Into deep eternity