![]() ![]() An eager theater student asked Shepherd the symbolism of a broom that was prominently displayed on the stage. These opinions remind me of when I saw a preview of an off-Broadway play by Sam Shepherd followed by Q&A with the playwright. “Dickinson's excessive use of dashes may be interpreted as the result of great stress and intense emotion, as the indication of a mental breakdown, or as a mere idiosyncratic, female habit.” ![]() It means “the patterns of stress and intonation in a language.”) did not serve her purposes.”Īn anonymous critic referred to Dickinson’s punctuation as “volcanic” saying: Conventional punctuation and for that matter prosody (I had to look up prosody. “Emily Dickinson was a monumentally original artist and innovator. The Emily Dickinson Museum says William Harvey Wells' Grammar of the English Language condoned Dickinson’s unorthodox use of dashes, and Lee Ballantine, a critic, opined that: ![]() Here’s one of her poems followed by scholarly opinions about her use of dashes. I needed to judge for myself and I urge you to do the same. They link separate realms in her mysterious landscape - a curtsy or quick intake of breath as she unveils her gem.” “Emily’s dashes give you pause to receive the enormity of what she is attempting to convey. When I investigated, I learned this from the critic, John Giglielmellon: To be honest, I had not taken note of the use of dashes by Emily Dickenson. Depending on the context, it can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons - in each case to slightly different effect.” They're formally called em dashes, and the punctuation guide I found says: “ The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. To be serious, you did make me wonder about the correct grammatical use of dashes, so I did some research. A more recent email asked the question this way and it stopped me in my tracks: “Do you use dashes the way Emily Dickinson uses them in her poems?” I apologize for the silly grin on my face, but considering my use of dashes in the same sentence with Dickinson’s use makes me giggle. The first time you asked, “Why do you use dashes when you write?” it aroused my curiosity. I often receive thoughtful emails from you about these blogs. ![]()
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