Poem Found Here: "The Soul Selects Her Own Society" by Emily Dickenson The version I have probably isn't the version she wrote. I see this version out there which has the end dashes in place. I'm going to go off the one I've read and wrote some notes about. I just wonder who interpreted the punctuation this way since it does make a difference. Bluntly put, the consistent usage of the semi-colon to connect couplets within the quatrains makes it so the lines are connected; however, this might not be the case with the end dashes. It's too late for me though. I can't unsee the way I see the poem. "The soul selects her own society, / Then shuts the door;" Within two lines, there's an openness with the soul choosing and then the closing seems more of a protection and ownership ideal. The next two lines state the reason why, "On her divine majority / Obtrude no more." The lines cast an ideal: devotion, loyalty, ownership of what...
Formerly the RetailMFA, This is the Poetry Blog of Darrell Dela Cruz