Question

Write a minimum 150-word response in which you explain one of the themes of “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark.” Be sure to cite examples from the text.

Answer 1

Life is full of uncertainty; that’s one thing of which we can be certain. Throughout the poem, Dickinson uses figurative language to explore how it feels to face something new and different, and how difficult it can be to find a way through the dark of the unknown. In the end, we make it through these difficulties by facing them, though it doesn’t exactly leave us unscathed.

For a poem ostensibly about the inevitability of getting used to the darkness, courage might seem like a strange theme. But it isn’t just the darkness that we get used to that is featured in the poem, it’s the darkness that we go out and face. Dickinson calls the folks that aren’t afraid to face the unknown the “bravest.” But, as we see at the end of the poem, these brave ones are also those that might wind up facing more hardships than those that stay back. Worth it? She seems to think so.

Groping in the dark might not sound like the best way to face uncertainty, but the poem argues that it’s the only way to learn how to cope. Eventually, we find our way through the dark and our eyes adjust to whatever new situation presents itself to us. Near the end of the poem, the knowledge we’ve gained by groping in the darkness makes it possible for us to face the road ahead.