Material Place - '
Discuss ways in which Dickinson explores the inner life in poem 670, One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted -'.
In your answer, explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form, and consider how this poem relates to other poems by Dickinson that you have studied.
30 marks
Comments from the exam board
In answers on ‘One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted’, there was some tendency to paraphrase rather than to comment; one examiner described this approach as offering a ‘translation’ of the poem, and candidates should be advised that taking this approach in a sustained way will limit the marks they can achieve. Examiners also found weaker answers ‘padded out’ with speculative biographical material about the poet’s own mental health and reclusive life. Generally, however, there was good understanding of the way in which Dickinson takes conventional Gothic references such as a ghost, an assassin and an abbey and suggests a much more terrifying internal image. Other popular areas for discussion included the use of dashes as a marker of uncertainty and the division between body and mind at the end of the poem. At the top end, solid, detailed contextual knowledge really helped to develop sophisticated readings of the poem, and there were some notably impressive interpretations of the encounter with the self as a struggle with Puritan religious identity. The mention of the ‘Revolver’ in the final stanza did inspire candidates to look to ‘My Life has stood’ but often the link made was not very fruitful. More successful links were made with ‘I felt a Funeral, in my Brain’ and ‘I heard a Fly buzz – when I died’.
Click here for a link to the mark scheme - scroll down to section A
Comments from me
- Don't waste time in the exam re-writing the exam question out. Just jot down the number of the question.
- Make sure you summarise the overall plot and structure of the poem in your introduction. But be careful not to allow this to dominate your essay. Make a reference to a comparative poem and make reference to a contextual point. This might be biographical. Make these points relevant to the essay title. You could complete this introduction by summarising the core poetic features of the poem that you will be considering in detail in the essay. And perhaps refer generally to how they affect readers.
- In an introduction, I think especially for Dickinson, it's a good idea to make detailed observations about the form of the poem. Make sure you link it to the essay title and the effects of these features on a reader.
- Your essay should be a series of paragraphs analysing the poem as it develops - at least stanza by stanza.
- Dickinson may be writing about personal experience but the poem is not personal. Dickinson universalises or objectifies the experience described. It's about human experience not personal.
- Be specific and detailed in your analysis - avoid making general and descriptive overview comments.
- I think better essays are those that work through the poem stanza by stanza. I think this is easier. Another essay structure might be to consider the most important points first and work your way down. This may be a more complex and therefore perhaps confusing structure to use.
- I think expanding on the term Gothic is helpful. Identify it as a genre of writing combing love, nature, a focus on mystery and the unknown. Mention Edgar Allan Poe and Shelly's Frankenstein as important influences on Dickinson.
