He
fumbles at your spirit
by Emily Dickinson
_ = soft syllable / = loud syllable
_ / _
/ _ / _
He fumbles at your spirit
_ / _
/ _ /
As players at the keys
_ /
_ / _
/ _ /
Before they drop full music on;
_ /
_ / _ /
He stuns you by degrees,
_ /
_ / _ /
_
Prepares your brittle substance
_ /
_ / _ /
For the ethereal blow,
_ / _
/ _ /
_ /
By fainter hammers, further heard,
_ /
_ / _
/
Then nearer, then so slow
_
/ _ /
_ / _
Your breath has time to straighten,
_
/ _ / _
/
Your brain to bubble cool, --
_
/ _ / _ /
_ /
Deals one imperial thunderbolt
_ /
_ / _
/
That scalps your naked soul.
The feet of this peom are mostly iambic, except for the first lines of each stanza. The last part of the first lines use amphibranch, where the loud syllable is in between two soft syllables. This provides a smoother flow within the poem. The meter of the peom depends on each line, so there is no unified meter. However, Dickinson uses the same number of feet for each stanza (7, 6, 8, 6), indicating a consistency throughout the poem.
The rhyme scheme of this poem is abcb, defe, ghih, making the second and fourth line rhyme in each stanza.
Metaphor - I think this poem is written about God, and uses metaphors such as "He fumbles at your spirit As players at the keys" (1), where she illustrates how God can play around with your spirit like a piano player fooling with the keys. Metaphors are used throughout the poem, and makes the poem somewhat mysterious so that the readers could interpret it differently.
Personification - Personification is to imply human characteristics to a non-living object. In Dickinson's poem, she illustrates her breath to a human gesture, where it straightens itself up.
While I was doing research on this poem, I found out that there are two versions to this poem. "He Fumbles at Your Spirit" is taken from Dickinson's three-part poem collection, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson.
However, the other version numbered 315 from The Selected Poetry of Emily Dickinson begins with "He fumbles at your soul", and adds two extra lines at the end: "When Winds take Forests in their Paws The Universe is still" (13-14).
These two lines are independent from the other stanzas, and creates a sense of closure to the poem. My interpretation of the poem is that Dickinson describes how God acts when taking one's life upon death. He plays around with your soul, and surprises you when you least expect it. His manifestation of a human life is as though playing an instrument, and at last gives one strike to finish your life. The words such as "ethereal" and "imperial" indicate some divine aspect to "He", making me conclude that "He" is God. I think the last two lines in the other version tells what is left after God takes the life, displaying calmness and emptiness after the event.
Other version:
315
He fumbles at your Soul
As Players at the Keys
Before they drop full Music on --
He stuns you by degrees --
Prepares your brittle Nature
For the Ethereal Blow
By fainter Hammers -- further heard --
Then nearer -- Then so slow
Your Breath has time to straighten --
Your Brain -- to bubble Cool --
Deals -- One -- imperial -- Thunderbolt --
That scalps your naked Soul --
When Winds take Forests in the Paws --
The Universe -- is still --
Dickinson, Emily. The Selected Poetry of Emily Dickinson: New York Public Library Edition. Harvard University Press. 1951.
---. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston. Little. 1924.
