Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In this poem, Emily Dickinson is exploring the idea of beauty and the power it has to captivate and enchant. She speaks of a veiled woman, whose face is only imperfectly beheld and thus has a certain charm to it. The woman is scared to lift her veil, not only because it might reveal her imperfections, but also because it could dispel the charm of her mysteriousness. Dickinson speaks of how the onlooker peers beyond the veil and both wishes and denies the possibility of revealing the woman’s face, as the image of her imperfectly beheld face satisfies the onlooker’s curiosity. Through this poem, Dickinson conveys her understanding of the power of beauty and how it can be both captivating and tantalizing.

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