Title: A Word is Dead - Everything2.com
Headings: A Word is Dead
A Word is Dead
Content: A Word is Dead - Everything2.com
A Word is Dead
( idea)
by Kathy J
Sat Mar 22 2003 at 17:25:06
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say. I say it just
Begins to live
That day. - Emily Dickinson -
One of Emily Dickinson's shortest poems, with less than twenty words, " A word is dead " reflects her thoughtfulness about life, death, and immortality. Dickinson challenges accepted thinking, by putting a spin on the way she writes about simple things, such as sunrises, walks, heaven, the mind, and even poetry. "A word is dead" asks the questions, " What is life? ," and " What is death? " When you speak, is the thought, the word, ending or beginning its life? Before the word is voiced or created, it can only affect one person. It provides no threat to anyone, it can create no change. An insult does not hurt until it is said.