The Soul Has

Bandaged
Moments

Emily Dickinson
Introduction
● In this poem Dickinson explores the highs and lows of inner life and the
transient extremes of contrasting emotions such as fear and elation.
● This poem dramatises the conflict between the soul and its enemy ‘Fright’
through an encounter between the personified soul as a vulnerable woman
and Fright as a cold predatory stranger.
● The poem can be seen to be about a number of different subjects. It could be:
a psychological exploration of moments of depression punctuated by moments
of release and happiness, a spiritual exploration of hope and despair, an
exploration of the conflict between physical desire and the need for restraint,
or an exploration of the absence and presence of creative inspiration.
● Throughout the poem, Dickinson uses concrete images to portray abstract
emotions.
Form and Structure
● The poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue written in the third person.

● The poem can be read in three parts of two stanzas each: the first two stanzas
being about the constraints of fear, the second two being about the delirium of
freedom, and the last two being about the soul’s inevitable recapture and
imprisonment.

● Throughout the poem Dickinson contrasts images of imprisonment and

freedom, despair and elation and fear and happiness. The overall mood,
however is one of despair.

Stanza 1
The Soul has Bandaged moments -
When too appalled to stir -
She feels some ghastly Fright come
up
And stop to look at her -
● The capitalisation of ‘Soul’ and the
pronoun ‘she’ give us the idea that the
soul is personified here as a female
figure.
● The ‘Bandaged moments’ are merely
the lulls between moments of fear.
● In this sense bandaged might suggest
moments of reprieve but could also
imply moments of restriction or
suffocation.
● ‘too appalled to stir’ implies that the
soul is frozen in horror - long vowel
sounds and the hyphenated lines = no
movement
● The harsh alliteration of ‘f’ in ‘feels’ and ‘Fright’ helps to create an
ominous image.
● ‘Fright’ even personified can only be felt rather than seen, suggesting that
it is a sinister presence that creeps up on us silently.
● The soul, in this first stanza is helpless and petrified to a point of passivity.

Stanza 2
Salute her, with long fingers -
Caress her freezing hair -
Sip, Goblin, from the very lips
The Lover - hovered - o'er -
Unworthy, that a thought so mean
Accost a Theme - so - fair -
Note: Gothic romances were
mysteries, often involving the
supernatural and heavily tinged with
horror, and they were usually set
against dark medieval settings.
● Fright approaches and salutes the woman - it
chooses her.
● The dramatic scene depicted here is like a scene
from a gothic movie, the ‘long fingers’ and the
gesture of ‘caress[ing]’ her, “freezing hair,” is a
sinister and one of subjugation.
● In a mock-romantic gothic scene, Fright becomes
a malevolent Goblin leaning over to kiss the
woman.
● The imperative tone of, ‘Sip, Goblin, from the
very lips / The Lover - hovererd - o’er,” suggests
that the soul simultaneously desires and is
repelled by fear. The language and imagery are
very sensual here.
● The fact that the lips are ones that the, “Lover – hovered – o’er,” suggests hesitation
and unrequited love, hence the bandaged soul.

● The sibilance and internal rhyme in these lines helps to make them repellent and
sinister. It creates a hissing sound that might allude to the sound of Fright.

● It is as if, in these lines, the thoughts of the woman are being voiced. If this is the
case then ‘unworthy’ becomes the soul reprimanding itself for the thought of desire.
If the third person speaker then the ‘unworthy’ thing becomes the thought itself.

● Erotic desire, in this stanza, therefore, is contrasted to the pure ideals of love. The
soul, in the poem, can’t help being ‘accosted’ by desire ‘Sip, Goblin’, and yet it is
repelled by the thought and views it as a destructive force: “a thought so mean.”
 ● This stanza is one of elation and euphoria.
Stanza 3 Just like the sadness in stanza 1, here, joy is
extreme.

The soul has moments of Escape ● The active and explosive verbs, “bursting,”
- “dances,” and, “swings,” emphasise the
When bursting all the doors - elation which could be psychological
elation or artistic energy.
She dances like a Bomb, abroad,
And swings upon the Hours, ● The simile, “like a Bomb,” suggests a
● “Swings upon the hours,” powerful freedom which by its nature can
implies a carefree attitude and only be temporary and so will self-destruct
feeling that life has no or explode.
limitations. It is as if the soul,
when in moments of extreme
happiness, feels like they will
last forever.
 ● This simile continues from the previous
stanza: the soul, “swings upon the
Stanza 4 Hours, / As do the Bee,” The image of
the Bee, “delirious borne,” conjures the
As do the Bee - delirious borne - idea of a bee, also in ecstatic pleasure,
Long Dungeoned from his Rose - in flight - freedom.
Touch Liberty - then know no more - ● Both the soul and the bee are depicted
But Noon, and Paradise as being blissfully unaware of time and
hence the transitory (not permanent)
nature of happiness.
● Like the soul the moments of happiness
for the bee are intense and ecstatic;
and short-lived.

‘Dungeoned’ is used as an unusual

verb rather than a noun.
● The bee in this stanza can be seen as being metaphorical for the soul. The rose
then, is freedom.
● Again Dickinson uses a concrete image, in this case the rose to depict an
abstract concept: ‘Liberty’ - or freedom.

Stanza 5
The Soul's retaken moments -
When, Felon led along,
With shackles on the plumed feet,
And staples, in the Song,
● For the poet, there is a sense of inevitability
- the soul, must be recaptured after its
freedom.
● Just as the bee was ‘Dungeoned’, the
metaphor of ‘Felon’ is used to describe the
soul as this point.
● The soul is passive and helpless, a prisoner
being taken away in chains.
● Instead of flying and dancing the soul is
now weighed down with, “shackles on the
plumed feet.”
● Plumed’ depicts the idea of the soul as a bird and
further highlights the contrast between flight and
imprisonment.

● The image of the shackled bird has connotations of

an unhappiness, perhaps loneliness, or what we, in a
modern context might term as, depression or anxiety.

● Again the sibilant ‘s’ sounds are used to intensify an

ominous tone.
 ● The couplet lends it to an abrupt and
Stanza 6 dramatic conclusion.

The Horror welcomes her, again, ● By giving a capital letter to Horror the
These, are not brayed of Tongue - implication is that it is personified.

● The emphasised ‘again’ suggests the

inevitability of the return.

● The last line talks of the isolation one

would feel during Dickinson’s time, as one
could not discuss this hurt and emotion
out loud. It was socially unacceptable.
● The final line suggest that the
experience of despair is a
lonely one. This line,
however, could be read as a
proud declaration.
 Antithetical Imagery
Fear / torment Joy / Elation
Psychological

Hope
Despair Spiritual

Lack of inspiration Inspiration

Artistic

Physical Desire Love Romantic Love

Other Contrasting Images
● Imprisonment and freedom
● Shackled and flight
● Coldness and warmth
● Passive and active
● Stillness and movement
● Injured and healing
● Vulnerability and strength