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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
In the Greek myth, the Pleiades were the daughters of the Titan Atlas. There were seven daughters total, and all but one had children with gods. One telling of the myth recounts that the daughters all died by suicide because of grief over the death of their sisters, the Hyades. The Hyades were the five daughters of Atlas who had a different mother than the Pleiades. Another story surrounding the Pleiades “explains that after seven years of being pursued by Orion, a Boeotian giant, they were turned into stars by Zeus” (“Pleiades.” Britannica, 2022). The Pleiades remain as a grouping of stars in the constellation Taurus. In Dickinson’s poem, the speaker alludes to the Pleiades here: “I found her—‘pleiad’—in the woods” (Line 4). By referring to the girl/flower before them, the speaker associates the girl/flower with the idea of sisterhood and companionship. The object/person found in the woods also becomes associated with grief and objectification. By using the allusion to the Pleiades, the speaker reinforces the femininity of the entity before them and indicates that they have perhaps succumbed to either grief and/or patriarchal societal pressures, much like what affected the Pleiades.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson