The Angle of a Landscape
poem 375
The Angle of a Landscape - meaning Summary
Perception Shaped by Angle
Dickinson explores how a narrow, habitual viewpoint transforms the world into mutable images. Waking between curtain and wall, the speaker sees a slanted fragment—“a Bough of Apples”—that recurs as chimney, hill, or vane. Seasonal change alters its appearance from emerald leaves to diamond-like snow, while some elements, like the steeple, remain constant. The poem suggests perception is shaped by angle and occasion, mixing intimate domestic detail with wider natural shifts.
Read Complete AnalysesThe Angle of a Landscape That every time I wake Between my Curtain and the Wall Upon an ample Crack Like a Venetian waiting Accosts my open eye Is just a Bough of Apples Held slanting, in the Sky The Pattern of a Chimney The Forehead of a Hill Sometimes a Vane’s Forefinger But that’s Occasional The Seasons shift my Picture Upon my Emerald Bough, I wake to find no Emeralds Then Diamonds&m dash;which the Snow From Polar Caskets fetched me The Chimney and the Hill And just the Steeple’s finger These never stir at all
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