Here’s a full analysis of the poem 'There came a Wind like a Bugle’ by Emily Dickinson, tailored towards A-Level students but also suitable for those studying at any level. Enjoy and feel free to leave feedback if you found it useful!
Includes:
POEM
VOCABULARY
STORY / SUMMARY
SPEAKER /...
There came a wind like a bugle,
It quivered through the grass,
And a green chill upon the heat
So ominous did pass
We barred the windows and the doors
As from an emerald ghost
The doom's electric moccasin
That very instant passed.
On a strange mob of panting trees,
And fences fled away,
And rivers where the houses ran
The living looked that day,
The bell within the steeple wild,
The flying tidings whirled.
How much can come and much can go,
And yet abide the world!
VOCABULARY
Bugle - a small brass instrument, like a trumpet
Quivered - shook
Ominous - dark and foreboding, like an omen
Barred - locked and shut
Moccasin - a shoe made of deerskin
Mob - a group of angry, stressed people
Steeple - church tower
, Tidings - news, communication
Abide - last or tolerate
STORY/SUMMARY
Stanza 1: A wind blew like a trumpet, it shook through the grass, and a green coldness
passed ominously over the heat of the atmosphere
Stanza 2: We locked the windows and the doors as if we were protecting ourselves
from a green ghost, the electric shoe of doom passed that very instant by the house.
Stanza 3: It passed on a strange mob of trees that heaved up and down, as if they
were panting, and faces fled away, and there were rivers where houses were flowing
away, the living looked on them all that day.
Stanza 4: The bell in the church steeple sounded wild, its sound whirled all around like
flying tidings. It’s strange how much can come and go, and still the world tolerates it
and lasts.
SPEAKER/VOICE
The speaker uses the first person collective pronoun ‘we’ to suggest that she and
others in her house are collectively weathering the storm by locking and barring their
windows, then watching the chaos unfold outside from their vantage point indoors.
The storm is both physical and metaphorical, representing the way in which chaos and
destructiveness work as forces within the world.
LANGUAGE DEVICES
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