Vesuvius at Home: The Power of Emily Dickinson

An allusion is an indirect reference to something—often another work of literature, but sometimes a well-known event, person, place, etc. The title of the essay alludes to the volcano Mount Vesuvius, which exploded in 79 AD and destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii. It also alludes to the repetition of volcano metaphors in Dickinson’s poetry, which Adrienne Rich proposes symbolized the poet’s inner creative power as well as her destructiveness (or fear of her destructiveness, given that her world did not allow women to possess such creative energy).

Though Rich excerpts several Dickinson poems for the purpose of critical discussion, she also alludes to several more. For example, she writes that Dickinson “carefully selected her society and controlled the disposal of her time” (179)—an allusion to the poem “The Soul selects her own Society.” The embedding of Dickinson’s words within Rich’s essay demonstrates the extent to which Rich has steeped herself in studying Dickinson, bolstering her credibility on the subject and speaking to her desire to “enter [Dickinson’s] mind” (179).

Ethos is an argumentative technique that appeals to the audience by establishing authorial credibility and trustworthiness.