"I dwell in possibility" by Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson's “I dwell in possibility” talks about the possibilities that come with an imagination. The poem hints that limitations only exist in a person's mind. As long as we use our imagination, possibilities will become limitless. It will lead us away from our mundane lives and guide us toward the discovery of greatness.

The various dashes that appear in Emily Dickinson's poem separate her imagination of the house of possibility from her comparison of poetry writing to possibility (I am assuming that “Occupation” refers to Dickinson as a poet, “This” refers to the poem, and “Prose” is what the poem is being compared to). For example, in the first stanza, she imagines living in a house that provides numerous windows of choices and insights. She then goes on to say that possibility, or poetry, is fairer and more superior than prose. The reasoning is that prose refers to something that is ordinary and lacks special features. Instead of limiting ourselves and sticking to the norm, we needs to keep an open mind that is nondiscriminatory and susceptible to new and different ideas. Poetry, unlike prose, allows us the freedom to explore different structures, rhythms, and imageries. Being open minded makes us nonjudgmental and “fair”, while looking at different possibilities allows us to explore and possibly discover or invent new things, making us “superior” to others. Similarly, in the second stanza, Dickinson says that the house she imagines is strong and sturdy “as the Cedars” and has an “everlasting roof” whose limit is the sky. As a comparison, she suggests poetry writing is similarly “impregnable” and gives off a stronger message than a prose. The dashes separate her imagination of the house from her thoughts of poetry writing, but at the same time connect them through the comparison of possibility and poetry. The pattern I found, with A representing her imagination and B representing poetry, was ABABA, ABA, ABABA. Dickinson believes that greatness lies within the imagination and exploration of possibilities. She is telling us that by exploring the world, we will go further in life and “gather paradise”, which refers to the happiness and satisfaction we will eventually acquire.