77 INeverHearTheWordEscape

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"I never hear the word "escape"" By Emily Dickinson [Analysis]

I never hear the word "escape"[1] Without a quicker blood,[2] A sudden expectation[3] A flying attitude![4] I never hear of prisons broad[5] By soldiers battered down,[6] But I tug childish at my bars[7] Only to fail again![8]
Poem 77 [F144] "I never hear the word "escape"" Analysis by David Preest [Poem]

Emily does not say what she wishes to escape and fly away from, but merely that it is childish to try to do so, as she knows it is impossible. One out of many possible meanings could be that she knows she has to spend some time doing her share of the household duties, however much she might like to escape to her room and write poems. Her niece, Martha, Austin's daughter, told the story of how at times Emily would look down from the landing outside her room, and, with her thumb and forefinger closed on an imaginary key, say, with a quick turn of her wrist, It's just a turn - and freedom, Matty.'
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