64 Poetry for Students

of work more abstractly, more metaphorically, as

a defense against the death and decay that always

threatens to overwhelm human beings. Critic Cyn-

thia Griffin Wolf argues that “a reader must un-

derstand the routines of housework to appreciate”

the poem. This is “no daily chore of dusting off and

throwing out,” Wolf continued. Instead it is sea-

sonalwork with cyclicalimplications, the careful

folding up and putting aside of summer or winter

clothes that will not be used again until a new year

has begun. In other words, sweeping up and putting

away provides an emotional outlet for the speaker

and gives her the chance to contemplate the possi-

bility of an afterlife. She would know from years

of experience that what is stored away is usually

brought back out in another season.

Style.

“The Bustle in a House,” is written in two qua-

trains, or stanzas of four lines each. As in the ma-

jority of Dickinson’s works, the rhythm of the

poem is rooted in iambs, regularly recurring two-

syllable segments in which the first syllable is un-

stressed and the second is stressed. In the first, sec-

ond and fourth lines of each quatrain, Dickinson

uses a three-foot metric line called an iambic trime-

ter (“tri” meaning three). In the third lines, she

changes to a four-foot line, called iambic tetrame-

ter (“tetra” meaning four). This pattern—two lines

of six syllables, followed by one of eight, then one

of six—is called the short meter. It is one of the

English hymn meters familiar to her from child-

hood.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, common Eng-

lish nouns and other words were often capitalized.

Dickinson adopted this out-of-fashion form of cap-

italization to her own purposes and in this poem

applies it in “Bustle,” “House,” “Morning,”

“Death,” “Earth,” “Sweeping,” “Heart,” “Love,”

and “Eternity.” She does this, perhaps, because her

poetry is a celebration of the exact, perfect word,

and capitalization can be used to highlight the in-

tensity of meaning.

She punctuates the poem by separating the two

quatrains with a dash, her signature mark. Here, the

dashes seem to divide the poem between a general,

universal topic and specific, personal examples.

Historical Context.

Women’s Lives

The truth about Dickinson’s life in Amherst

has been both intentionally and unintentionally dis-

torted in literary and popular accounts. The basic

facts are indisputable: she lived almost her entire

life in one house, she never married nor seriously

entertained any proposals; and she left behind more

than 1,700 poems hand-bound and sewn. The myth

of the lonely spinster whose delicate nature poems

emerged from her broken heart is a modern-day fic-

tion, however. In order to separate Dickinson the

artist from Dickinson the myth, it is important to

understand why she would have chosen the life she

did, given what was available to her at the time.

As the female child in an old and very promi-

nent family with a great many connections, Dick-

inson was groomed and educated to assume the

roles of wife and mother, and would have had cer-

tain civic responsibilities as well. At the very least,

she would have raised and educated her children,

run the household and supervise the staff, and sup-

port her husband in his professional life. In the

nineteenth century, however, these roles were much

more onerous than they seem to readers now. She

would have had almost no control over when and

how many children to bear and would risk death

every time she delivered. She would have spent part

of every day dressing to go out and then calling on

the old and sick, visiting with members of the

The Bustle in a House

Topics for

Further

Study

• Write a long poem describing exactly what the
  “bustle” consists of, what actions are taken the
  morning after death. Use specific, clear details.


• Compare the emotion in this poem to Walt Whit-
  man’s “O Captain! My Captain!” Whitman’s
  poem was written at almost the same time as
  Dickinson’s. What do the two poems have in
  common?


• What do you think the author means by “putting
  love away”? Is this idea realistic or hopeful?