This is my letter to the world,
Never wrote to me,-
The simple news that nature tells us,
With gentle majesty.
Her message is commitment.
My invisible hand;
Dear compatriots, for the love of her,
Judge me gently!
In our first American poetry class, Professor Qin showed us this poem. Well, like other poems by this talented poetess, this one is difficult to fully understand. After you read it again and again, you will get some vague ideas, and even you will be happy about it. However, if poetry has no metaphor or symbol and is as simple as everyday conversation, it is not poetry.
Let's look at the first two lines first. The "letter" here may refer to this poem, or the author's poem; I prefer the latter. As for the word faith, you know, we often say a scholar. Dickinson wants to express her thoughts and feelings to the outside world through her poems, but the world doesn't understand her (as shown in the second line).
The third and fourth lines, I think, describe the contents of her "letter". Her poems are inspired by nature. Moreover, "art itself is nature" (Shakespeare said in his Winter Story). It is well known that the theme of Dickinson's poems is about her inner world and her unique views on life, nature, death and love. This is in sharp contrast to most of Whitman's poems describing social events. Therefore, the poetess admits that her theme is gentle; Nevertheless, we should remember that it is gentle but dignified. Isn't the philosophy about death, love and life as great as political and economic historical events?
Her contemporaries didn't understand her, so the author pinned her hopes on her invisible descendants. Finally, she asked later readers to evaluate her gently.
Emily Dickinson is one of the most popular poets among critics and ordinary readers in the 20th century, and we believe that she will remain so for the next few centuries. She was born too early. What a pity! However, if she knows her popularity today, she can be satisfied.
Note that this short poem contains many long vowels, so the rhythm is slow and the tone is calm. She told her feelings gently and calmly, although the people around her didn't understand.