Emily Dickinson

• How do people cope with tragedy and loss?

• How can the idea of a shipwreck

metaphorically relate to other types of loss or
disasters?

• How do memories of tragic events influence

future generations?
•
Meet Emily Dickinson…
American poet born in 1830 in Massachusetts
• Known for her unique and unconventional style of writing
• Primarily a private poet. Only a few of her works were published during
her lifetime.
• She lived a reclusive life and maintained only a small circle of
correspondents.
• She wrote over 1800 poems.
• Her first book was published posthumously in 1890 by her sister. Her
work received little attention until the 20th century.
• Her poetry explores themes such as death, nature, and the human
condition.
• She wrote many of her poems on small pieces of paper, and then
sewed them together to form “fascicles”, which she kept hidden in her
room.
• Dickinson died in 1886 at the age of 55, due to kidney failure.
• She has become one of the most celebrated poets in American
literature.
Glee! The great storm is over!
Four have recovered the land ;
Forty gone down together
Into the boiling sand.

Ring, for the scant salvation!

Toll, for the bonnie souls, --
Neighbour and friend and bridegroom,
Spinning upon the shoals!

How they will tell the shipwreck

When winter shakes the door,
Till the children ask, ‘But the forty?
Did they come back no more?’

Then a silence suffuses the story,

And a softness the teller's eye;
And the children no further question,
And only the waves reply.
The title

• Event that causes a

ship to be destroyed
• Tragedy
• Loss of lives
 Famous Historical Shipwrecks
Titanic RMS Lusitania HMS Birkenhead
1912 1915 1945
Mortalities: 1500 Mortalities: 1198 Mortalities: 450

MV Wilhelm Gustloff MV Dona Paz MV Sewol

1987 1987 2014
Mortalities: 9000 Mortalities: 4000 Mortalities: 300
Structure 1
2
3
Glee! The great storm is over! A
Four have recovered the land ; B
Forty gone down together C
While the same rhyme
scheme persists
throughout the poem it
is somewhat irregular
4 Into the boiling sand. B = emphasises the
Focus on the news of chaos, danger and
the survival of the 5 Ring, for the scant salvation! D disruption of the
four people. 6 Toll, for the bonnie souls, -- E event.
7 Neighbour and friend and bridegroom, F
8 Spinning upon the shoals! E

9 How they will tell the shipwreck G

10 When winter shakes the door, H
11 Till the children ask, ‘But the forty? I
Focuses on the 12 Did they come back no more?’ H
grief of the loss
13 Then a silence suffuses the story, J
of forty lives.
14 And a softness the teller's eye; K
15 And the children no further question, L
16 And only the waves reply. K
 In summary…
● The poem describes a shipwreck in which four
people have survived and forty have died.
● The speaker reflects on how the survivors will tell
the story of the shipwreck, especially during the
winter when the wind shakes the door.
● The speaker imagines the children asking about the
forty people who did not come back, and the
speaker notes that the story is often told with a
sense of sadness and a softness in the teller's eye.
● The children do not ask further questions, and only
the waves reply.
● The overall tone of the poem is melancholic and
contemplative.
Irony - The joyous feeling powerful =
Stanza 1
of the survivors is in happiness power of nature Relief!
contrast with the death of 1 Glee! The great storm is over!
those who died.
survived / made it to
2 Four have recovered the land ;
Juxtaposition – emphasises punctuation emphasises
the magnitude of the disaster Euphemism - died the contrast
3 Forty gone down together
Tone changes to
sorrow and grief. bottom of the ocean
4 Into the boiling sand. Metaphor - The bottom of the sea is
described as "boiling sand". Creates
a sense of danger + emphasises the
power of nature. Sea was churning.
Stanza 2
very few redemption
5 Ring, for the scant salvation!
slow ringing of the bell - beloved - Scottish allusion (evokes a sense of longing)
usually at a funeral
6 Toll, for the bonnie souls, -- After the dash follows a
Description makes it poignant and personal. description of those who died.
7 Neighbour and friend and bridegroom,
tossed around sandbank
8 Spinning upon the shoals! Irony - They died in the shallow
waters. People were helpless in
the violent storm.
Stanza 3 1. Personification - refers to to
winter as a guest that visits and is
told the story.
How will it be retold to future generations 2. Metaphor - the door being shaken
when the harsh, cold winter months come. = memory that is recounted.
9 How they will tell the shipwreck 3. Winter could be associated with
death.
10 When winter shakes the door,
Reference to children - emphasises the families left behind.
11 Till the children ask, ‘But the forty? Repetition - emphasises the
scale of the loss

12 Did they come back no more?’ disbelief

 Stanza 4
spreads through No explanation could be
13 Then a silence suffuses the story, offered. Mournful tone.
Person telling the story.
The teller also lost a loved
14 And a softness the teller's eye; one.
Pathos. The children understand the sorrow and grief.
15 And the children no further question,
Emphasises the silence. There is no comfort.
16 And only the waves reply.
Personification - waves are given the ability to speak.
Emphasises the power and finality of nature in the face of the shipwreck.
 The poem explores the idea of
remembering and honoring the
dead. The imagery of the bell The Power of
"tolling" in line 6 and the phrase Nature
Death and Loss "forty gone down together" in
line 3 suggest the act of The poem suggests the
The shipwreck in the poem
remembering and honoring idea of the natural world
results in the deaths of those who have died. The as indifferent and
forty people, and the poem imagery of the "children" asking uncaring to human
explores the mourning and about the forty dead in line 12 suffering. The imagery of
grief that follows such a also suggests the idea of passing
the "boiling sand" in line
tragedy. The imagery of on memories and stories from
one generation to the next. 4 and the "waves" in line
the "boiling sand" and the
16 suggest the power
"bonnie souls" spinning on
and indifference of the
the shoals suggests the Memory and natural world. The poem
finality and senselessness
of death. Remembrance also illustrates the power
of nature and the frailty
of mankind.
Practice Essay Topic

With close reference to the

poem, critically discuss the
speaker’s exploration of grief
and loss in “The Shipwreck”
by Emily Dickinson.