They shut me up in Prose has a little girl in the first stanza, a strong opening image which suggests severe restriction and censorship, as well as punishment and deprivation. A closet is a dark place. To be shut up is to be confined, imprisoned even, locked away in the mundane, but there is also the idea of shutting up—being quiet, being told to be quiet in no uncertain terms. Emily Dickinson used the word Prose often enough in her writings. To her, its meaning was clear: the everyday, the conventional, the mainstream, the closed mind.
The tone of poem is defiant, the speaker using the context of family history, childhood, metaphor, simile and symbol to reinforce the notion of absurdity—they could never confine the movement of the brain, or deny the joy of rhythmic poetry. She seems to invoke a 'little girl' presence in these poems, which perhaps derives from her actual childhood experiences, where authority in the inevitable acts of discipline common to all parents is at times fought against and questioned.
This poem consists of three short stanzas with rhythmic trimeter lines and some slant rhyme plus one full rhyme. Besides, in this poem, there is enjambment (lines with no punctuation that run on into the next), metaphor—a Bird for poetry—and plenty of those unusual dashes that Emily Dickinson used in place of commas and other punctuation.
First Stanza
They shut me up in Prose - As when a little Girl They put me in the Closet - Because they liked me "still" -
The opening line can be confusing for the reader. How can someone be shut up in Prose? Prose becomes a metaphor for the ordinary life, the conventional way of doing things. This seems to be a punishment of some kind, the speaker being locked up, likening this act to that of a child kept in a closet because they aren't 'still', that is, quiet and compliant. In addition, ‘prose’ can also be described as words. It means, 'little girl' is silenced. She could not voice her opinion. In the next line, a girl is being put in the closet, a place to dispose of dirty things which of course is a slightly disgusting place for some people. This line seems a little demeaning to the position of 'little girl' who is a woman. In addition, the phrase 'they put me' seems to objectify women. Women are like an object that can be placed anywhere they wish.
Second Stanza
Still! Could themself have peeped - And seen my Brain - go round - They might as wise have lodged a Bird For Treason - in the Pound -
Repeating the word 'still', reinforcing the idea of conformity, (women's rights and freedoms were still severely narrowed when author create this poem), the speaker suggests figuratively that had her captors 'peeped' at her brain they would have known how nonsense their actions had been. In the third line, the woman who was previously described as a little girl is now turned into a bird. As we know that birds are animals that are able to fly high with their wings. The depiction of a woman as a bird may reflect the public's awareness at the time this poem was written that women are creatures who have their own freedom. However, this bird is forced to commit the betrayal described in the fourth line (for treason). This can illustrate that society forces women to betray their freedom (society forces women to be restrained).
Third Stanza
Himself has but to will And easy as a Star Look down opon Captivity - And laugh - No more have I -
The society that mentioned in previous stanzas is only described as 'themself' or 'they', now changed to 'himself'. It means, the author wants to tell us that the people who are trying to describe here are men at the time this poem was written. In lines one and two, 'himself' is also described as a star. As we know that the star is an object that is located high in space. The author wants us to know that men are placed in a high position in society. This is in stark contrast to the position of women who are only placed in the closet (according to previous stanza). On lines three and four, from that high position, men can look down (to the captivity). It means, men can see and do anything to women whose position is below them. The men described can only laugh when seeing the state of captivity down there. They have nothing else to do other than laugh at the condition of women.
NB:
The main theme is defying convention; the idea that the poetic mind cannot be stilled and that creativity will prevail despite familial, societal, editorial or political restrictions.
Prose represents boring convention, imprisonment—females at the time the poem was written were expected to fulfill traditional roles within the house, marriage and family. The opposite is poetry—exciting, dangerous and rebellious.
Dickinson's use of language reflects the division between restrictive order (prose) and the liberating creativity (poetry) inherent in the brain. So we see shut me up, put me in the closet, still, Treason - in the Pound, Captivity . . . contrasting with Brain - go round, a Bird, easy as a Star, And laugh.
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