Here’s a full analysis of the poem ‘Whar mystery pervades a well!’ by Emily Dickinson, tailored towards A-Level students but also suitable for those studying at a higher level. Enjoy and feel free to leave feedback if you found it useful!
Includes:
POEM
VOCABULARY
STORY / SUMMARY
SPE...
What mystery pervades a well!
That water lives so far —
A neighbor from another world
Residing in a jar
Whose limit none have ever seen,
But just his lid of glass —
Like looking every time you please
In an abyss's face!
The grass does not appear afraid,
I often wonder he
Can stand so close and look so bold
At what is awe to me.
Related somehow they may be,
The sedge stands next the sea —
Where he is floorless
And does no timidity betray
But nature is a stranger yet;
The ones that cite her most
Have never passed her haunted house,
Nor simplified her ghost.
To pity those that know her not
Is helped by the regret
That those who know her, know her less
The nearer her they get.
, VOCABULARY
Mystery - something unusual or suspicious, which incites our curiosity
Pervades - infuses
Residing - living within something
Abyss - a dark void of nothingness, a seemingly bottomless hole in something
Awe - a feeling of shock, respect and admiration
Sedge - a type of grass that grows by water
Floorless - without a floor
Timidity - shyness
Cite - to refer to something
Pity - to feel sorry for someone
STORY/SUMMARY
Stanza 1: A well is so full of mystery! The water lives so far down it - it is like a
neighbour from another world that lives in a jar.
Stanza 2: No one has ever seen the limit of the water, you can only view his lid of glass
- it’s like looking every time you feel like it into the face of an abyss!
Stanza 3: The grass doesn’t seem afraid of wells like I am - I often wonder how he can
stand so close and look so confident at something that shocks and terrifies me.
Stanza 4: But nature is still a stranger to me; the ones that reference and talk about
her the most have never gone through her haunted house, or managed to truly simplify
the spirit of her.
Stanza 5: The sorrow that you feel for people who don’t know her is helped by the fact
that nobody can really fully understand nature: regretfully, even people who do know
her end up knowing her less the closer to her that they get.
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