Point of View

When writing her poetry Emily most often uses the first person point of view. These first person point of view poems can be identified by Emily's use of the pronoun "I" in her text. The nature of Emily's poems makes this first person point of view the best choice for her work. These are ideas that come from her own introspection and observation of life and her surroundings. It is through these first person point of view poems that Emily shares her own personal thoughts and emotions with her readers. Poems written in the first person point of view include poems 138, 207, 313, 639, 1080, 1575 and 1716.

In some of Emily's poems the person or persons to whom the poems were directed is more important than the point of view from which they were written. In some of her poems Emily addresses her poetry to the reader. In one poem, for...