44.5k views
3 votes
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!

2 Answers

2 votes
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
User Josh Edwards
by
7.0k points
1 vote
Exultation is the going
Of an inland soul to sea, —
Past the houses, past the headlands,
Into deep eternity!
i hope this helps
User Hofit
by
8.3k points