We+Outgrow+Love+Hyperlinks

  In this poem Emily Dickinson is saying that love is an object, something that we are able to put away and take out when we feel inclined. Without knowing anything about Emily Dickinson's life, with only this poem as a judgement of her, i would say that she suffered a terrible heartbreak and later continuously fell in and out of love. I think that her poem //We Outgrow Love// is a warning to all who will listen. She is warning her readers that love can be fake and not always what it seems. I do not think that her warning is particularly affective, unless the reader spends a lot of time dwelling over the fine details. But after looking over this poem many times i think that this message is one that is not easily forgotten. Dickinson's warning subtly tells a tale of heartbreak and the sorrow that follows. This poem does include a hopeful note, that heartbreak can be outgrown, as can love.

 I chose this image because this is the image that comes to mind when i read "antique fashion show". The notion that love is like an old dress that you will try on later in life really puts the image of an elegant dress in my mind.

[|All Dressed In Love By Jennifer Hudson] This song really captures the essence of the poem. It talks about how love is a dress that you can put away and take out when you want. "When it’s been out of sight and out of mind for such a long time That’s how one forgets So I reached in the back of my closet and pulled it out And tried it on and it still fits"

Grandsire: A noun meaning either a grandfather or an aged, old man (Dictionary.com)

Knowing the meaning of this word gives the phrase "Like costumes grandsire wore. " new meaning. When one knows the definition of this word, the reader can now understand the true meaning of the statement. "like costumes grandfather wore", in other words, like the clothing my grandfather used to wear. This gives the poem additional imagery and meaning. instead of skipping over a word you don't understand, the reader is now left with a very specific image.

The phrase "we outgrow love like other things" is talking about a few different things. Dickinson is saying that love is childish, and that people have the ability to outgrow relationships. Sometimes the things we find so alluring at first, slowly fade into the background of our lives. Like a child and a shiny new toy, after a few months of enjoyment the toy quickly becomes uninteresting and routine. Emily Dickinson is also saying that love is unwise. Things that you outgrow are usually silly or not worth while. The notion that love is not worth while leads one to believe that it is daft and not worth the effort.

"Like costumes grandsire wore" is a more complicated expression to unravel. In this statement it seems as if Dickinson is saying that love is fake or pretend. Her choice of the words makes this statement difficult. "Costumes" suggests make believe, or pretending to be something you are not. Emily is also saying that love is something of the past. grandsire, a synonym for an aged old man, means that the costumes (a symbol for love) is similar to that an old man would wear. This leads one to believe she is saying true love is only in the past; but one could go further and say that she is really saying that true love happens only in fairytales.