Today, few would deny that Emily Dickinson is an important figure in American literature. The numerous ways to interpret her poetry draws more and more readers into her publications. It's as if everyone could interpret Dickinson's poems into his or her personal life; seeing the poems the way they want to see it. This is the effect "flexible" poems have on people.

In Dickinson's "My Life Had Stood-A Loaded Gun", I interpreted the poem literally, thinking the poem was really about a gun and the relationship with its owner. But as I read the poem more and more, I felt the power and rage engulfed into this piece. I also gathered that, like most of Dickinson's poetry, there is a common denominator of her personal life and views into each of her pieces pf poetry. And the poem may very well supposed to be about a gun, but I interpreted it in a way that factored her into it.

I also read a little about Emily Dickinson and her life as a poet. And when I read about certain parts of her life and feelings, the poem seemed to "click" with her personal feelings about her life with poetry, like there was a sort of connection. She felt forced to practice her art privately, that is, she w

As the poem goes on, I had a harder and harder time trying to interpret what she was implying. For example, in the lines:

And when at Night - Our good Day done -

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I was trying to find out what a Yellow Eye was supposed to mean, and I think it has to do with the sight gauge on a gun; and an emphatic thumb represents a thumb on a trigger of a gun, ready to shoot. So I feel that she's saying a "foe" of his is a "foe" of hers, like she's watching over him and protecting him, just like in the lines before. So she's ready to "jump down their throat" if they rub her the wrong way, because she's a deadly foe. Maybe she's a "deadly foe" in a sense that she is strong with her words and intelligence and can harm someone intellectually.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1101
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)