Dickenson's "The name - of it - is Autumn"

The first thing that struck me about this poem was its almost lyrical quality. The short stanzas coupled with the meter and the pauses in the lines lend itself to a musical interpretation. But then you look deeper, at the text of the poem and you realize that this would be a pretty disturbing song if you put it to music. After reading Civil War poetry for a couple of weeks now its evident that some of the poetry is violent (Whitman), some is observant (Horton), and some is more flowery and imaginary (Timrod). In contrast to all of those readings, I would have to say that Dickenson's sense of the Civil War is deeply embedded in the people, not the presidents or Southerners, but rather the everyday American. I say this because she uses common objects of the day and describes how they are upset in one way or another by the war. For instance, she says the war has "upset the Basin" and "It sprinkles Bonnets." I would also characterize Dickenson's elucidations about the war as pretty ominous. I think the strongest indication of this portentousness is found in her allusions to bad weather. In particular "Shower," "rain," and "Winds" conjure a sense of foreboding misfortune. Another interesting feature of this poem is its connections between the body and the war. In the first stanza Dickenson refers to "Blood," "An Artery," and "A Vein" in her observations on the war. I think that the use of these parts of the body is an implication that Dickenson is making a connection between the inner workings of the body systems and the inner workings of the soldiers and the armies. Overall, for me Dickenson's representation of the war has by far been the most resonant. The overall theme of this poem is that the war is devastating to many things, and I know that Whitman refers to that effect in the poem ''Beat! Beat! Drums!," but I feel that Dickenson presents the effects of war in a more poetic and less demanding tone. Therefore, her poem is more emotionally identifiable and has way more impact on me than any of the other poets' interpretations of the Civil War.