I Never Hear the Word ‘Escape’

I Never Hear the Word ‘Escape’ - meaning Summary

Yearning Versus Inability

Dickinson's short lyric considers the idea of "escape" as a sudden, almost physical impulse rather than a literal flight. The speaker responds to the word with quickened blood and imagined motion, showing desire and anticipation. By contrast, when confronted with actual prisons, she finds her attempts childish and ineffective, revealing a gap between yearning for freedom and the speaker's inability to achieve it. The tone is intimate and quietly ironic.