Twas+Warm+at+First+Like+Us

='Twas warm — at first — like Us —" =

By: Emily Dickinson
'Twas warm — at first — like Us — Until there crept upon A Chill — like frost upon a Glass — Till all the scene — be gone.

The Forehead copied stone — The Fingers grew too cold To ache — and like a Skater's Brook — The busy eyes — congealed —

It straightened — that was all — It crowded Cold to Cold — It multiplied indifference — As Pride were all it could —

And even when with Cords — 'Twas lowered, like a Weight — <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">It made no Signal, nor demurred, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">But dropped like Adamant.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Historical Context

 * Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, of which was an extremely religious area
 * Poems combat typical themes presented at the time
 * Member of the prominent Dickinson family, known for their wealth and founding of Amherst College

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Biography

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Left school as a teenager of which pushed her to live a reclusive life
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Early influence was Ralph Waldo Emerson
 * Book sent to her by professor
 * Rejection of love from professor is thought to have influenced her writings
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Never married
 * Suffered from agoraphobia and depression
 * Was too concerned with caring for her mother
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Wrote close to 1,800 poems
 * Many left without titles
 * Focus on death and morbid topics
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Poems were not appreciated until after death
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Found in room by her sister
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sister published the unedited versions of which gained popularity

=<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Analysis =

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Theme

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Death is a natural occurrence that cannot be changed
 * "A Chill - like frost upon a Glass-" (3)
 * "It made no signal -" (15)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The idea of dying is rather lonely
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">"Till all the scene - be gone." (4)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Imagery

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Visual
 * "The busy eyes - congealed" (8)
 * The visualization of the corpse's eyes being scrambled brings forth a feeling of loss and dehumanization of the corpse which separates the reader from the corpse; the effect is a feeling of disconnection.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Personification
 * [[image:Coffin lowered.jpg align="right"]]"The Forehead copied stone -" (5)
 * The forehead of the corpse is personified to recognize and emphasize the stillness
 * of the corpse. As rigor mortis sets in, the body becomes harder, therefore the forehead copies stone in the sense that it is unchangeable.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Simile
 * "Twas lowered - like a weight -" (14)
 * The body is alluded to but not directly called "the corpse" in hopes of making the clean divide between the living and the dead. The body is compared to a weight using the word like to once again recognize that the body is not a person but rather just an object.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Dramatic Irony
 * "But dropped like Adamant." (16)
 * Adamant means to be absolutely sure of something or certain. However, it can also be referred to as a large stone. Overall, it is ironic that the body can be put into a grave so surely, but still only be nothing more than just a stone or a weight.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Anaphora
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">"It" (9-11)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The body is alluded to by saying "it". The effect of this device is that the repetition of the pronoun allows the audience to understand the absolute of death and how there is no changing the course of what the world has laid out for one.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Meter

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Form
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Free form poem
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">No direct category to fit in, this type of poem was rare to see at a time of strict rules and a specific way to perform a certain task.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Meter
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Trochaic
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Natural rhythm when reading or speaking in every day conversations
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Structure
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Four quatrains without rhyme scheme
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Each stanza represents a different stage of death; hence the use of the "-" to allow a clear beginning of life, middle of life, and death structure to be recognized by the reader.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Rhyme Scheme
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">ABCB CDEF CDEF CDEF
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Slant rhyme meaning that it has a free form rhyme as the author pleases with no intention to sound a specific way other than the author's intended purpose.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Emotion

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tone
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The fingers grew too cold to ache -" (6)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The tone of the author is very somber however truthful about the transition from life to death. The use of "It Crowded cold to cold" once again allows author to show the power of death that it is one cold to another cold.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Mood
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">"It made no Signal, nor demurred,But dropped like Adamant." (16)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The body is described as being lifeless and not giving any sort of notice that it's being put into the ground for a final resting place. The tone of worthlessness is present because of a body being dropped like a rock (adamant) showing how unimportant life is after one's heart stops beating.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Diction
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">"congealed" and "chilled"
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">The strict, cold words used strike a creeping feeling as death overcomes one, it is not sudden but rather takes control of a body
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Connotation
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">"Twas warm -at first - like us"
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Twas refers initially to a body however the poem could be translated into the death of a relationship. The relationship could come to a crippling end and the love dies, with nothing to show for the time or effort. "us" refers to the couple who are experiencing the cold shift to being alone.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Works Cited
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">"Emily Dickinson." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 22 June 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Katherinegilbert6. "Emily Dickinson: An Explication of “‘Twas Warm- at First- like Us”." Katherinegilbert6. N.p., 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Kornfeld, Susan. "'Twas Warm - at First - like Us -." 'Twas Warm — at First — like Us —. N.p., 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">