Stylistics routledge English Language Introductions

All these – 
remind us of the
place
That Men call ‘Paradise’ -
Itself
be fairer -
(F544/J575; Fascicle 28, lines 18–25)
The space-builder ‘remind’ creates a hypothetical space in which ‘all these’ is equated
with ‘the place’ called ‘Paradise’. ‘All these’ refers to the signs that have been described
in the previous stanzas that stand for heaven. The projection from space to space
allows noun phrases like ‘All these’, ‘the place’, ‘Paradise’, and ‘Itself ’ to be linked.
The 
-self
anaphor ‘itself ’ thus can be licensed by one form (all these) and agree 
grammatically with another (the place, Paradise). [. . .]
There are exceptions to the grammatical rule as formulated. Other poems indi-
cate that the form of an anaphoric reference will shift as the perspective shifts between
the mental spaces that are projected, and pronominal references 
cross over
into other
spaces:
[8]
I
almost strove to clasp
his Hand,
Such Luxury – it grew -
That as
Myself
– could pity
Him -
[Perhaps he – pitied 
me
– /He – too – could pity 
me
-]
(F570/J532; Fascicle 25, lines 19–24)
The speaker fantasises a mental space in which there might be someone else besides
herself ‘Of Heavenly Love – forgot -’. She considers reaching out to ‘clasp his Hand’,
and in that mental space of projected fantasy refers to herself as ‘Myself ’. The
‘Perhaps’ (or ‘too’) also serves as a space-builder, but this time, the first person 
-self
anaphor does not occur. Whereas she, as ‘Myself ’, can pity him in that mental space
she has fantasised, he might pity her, not in that same fantasised space (which would
trigger ‘myself ’ in line 24), but in her own reality space, where the 
-self
anaphor is
not triggered. The crossing of mental spaces is what causes the effectiveness and
power of the ending. If ‘myself ’ is substituted in that final line, the result would be
to stay in the same mental space of fantasy; there would be no crossing of spaces
into the speaker’s reality space, and the power of the ending would be lost.
On one occasion, Dickinson herself had second thoughts about what form to use.
In the poem, ‘I took my power in my hand’, in which the speaker compares herself
with David, two variants, ‘me’ and ‘I’ are suggested for the second 
-self
anaphor:
206
E X T E N S I O N

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