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My Life had stood — a Loaded Gun — In Corners — till a Day The Owner passed — identified — And carried Me away —

And now We roam in Sovereign Woods — And now We hunt the Doe — And every time I speak for Him — The Mountains straight reply —

And do I smile, such cordial light Upon the Valley glow — It is as a Vesuvian face Had let its pleasure through —

And when at Night — Our good Day done — I guard My Master's Head — 'Tis better than the Eider-Duck's Deep Pillow — to have shared —

To foe of His — I'm deadly foe — None stir the second time — On whom I lay a Yellow Eye — Or an emphatic Thumb —

Though I than He — may longer live He longer must — than I — For I have but the power to kill, Without — the power to die —

I think this poem is very sincere. One thing that i did in the first stanza is read all of the lines without the words after the hyphens. For example, i would read:

My life had stood In corners The owner passed And carried me away.

I had never read something like that previously and thought it was so interesting because she would be able to tell us the poem without those words, but added them; and that means to me that she must have specificly wanted those words in the poem for a reason. A loaded gun-till a day- identified. It's like she's acting as the gun is an actual human personifiying the object. I think that besides this stanza, the poem shows some loyalty to the master. The narrator would stay up late at night just to make sure the master slept fine. Maybe in real life, the master was someone that she truely cared for and wanted the best for them. I'm not sure about that last sentence, but it was just a thought.1204251310ape2

This is the writing of a daydreamer who has way too much time to think. She contemplates a gun's condition-protecting her master, able to kill, not die, etc. This reminds me of a rock song about handguns. It goes something like " a gun aint good for nothin and you might even shoot yourself." Seems artists are thinking a lot about a small metal devise which, with a small movement of the index finger, can dispense tragedy or save a life, depending on the skill and moral inclinations of the person connected to the trigger finger.Makes me think a poem about the condition of the shooter would be more interseting.Though I can see why other can lookat a gun and allow thoughts to wander...may all those who hol em be blessed with a good heart and a good aim! 1204260605 ___ This seems to have a different feeling or emotion than most of her other poems. The thing that I am most interested in, in this poem, is that like APe said she really is acting like the gun. Saying things like "carried me away" as if the owner of the gun [her] had just picked her up. Then in the second stanza it continues to use the word we, she is talking about hunting but not a hunter and her as a fellow hunter but a hunter and her as the gun that is killing! I wonder why she would create a poem as herself being a inatimate object. Although as I read on through the poem I began to think that maybe it didn't really have to do with the gun as much as it had to do with her feelings towards something as if her emotions made her so mad that she pictured herself as this thing thats almost undestroyable. I think it could even be her relationship with another person like when she states "Though I than he- may longer live". But the line that interests me the most is "For I have but the power to kill, without- the power to die-" This made me wonder what she could be trying to say with such a powerful line like this. I thought that maybe it was something bad like she was in a situation where she was trapped. She couldn't go back or forward. Or maybe she could only do harm without the affects coming back onto herself. 1204604680

Reading this poem I thought I had it completely figured out from the first two lines, but this poem is actually extremely confusing I think. I tried reading the other post to see what other people thought but while I did so I believe I thought of what was really right or at least a good idea. I believe in the poem Emily is saying that she is a loaded gun because she is waiting for the day her life takes off, the day she does something big or goes to another level she could have never imagined. I don’t believe the other person in the poem is in fact a human. I believe it’s her consciousness because she said she was the loaded gun (her body) and the owner (or the gun/her body). I believe maybe she I talking about that she is finding her true self in the woods and near the mountains, places that make her happy. But then I kind of get lost near the end of the poem but I believe she is wrapping it up with the fact that she has the power to take herself anywhere and she has no limits hence (for but I have the power to kill without the power to die. 1204683803