She dealt her pretty words like Blades --How glittering they shone --And every One unbared a NerveOr wantoned with a Bone --She never deemed -- she hurt --That -- is not Steel's Affair --A vulgar grimace in the Flesh --How ill the Creatures bear --To Ache is human -- not polite --The Film upon the eye Mortality's old Custom --Just locking up -- to Die. Emily Dickinson
About This Quote

In the poem “She dealt her pretty words like blades,” by Robert Browning, the speaker is talking about a woman who was sharp and clever in her conversation. This woman was skilled at wooing suitors with her words. The speaker is making a comparison between her and a sword, which can cut and kill without mercy. This woman does not see anything wrong with killing another person.

Another metaphor for a sword is a bone. The bone can be used to create music, but it can also be used to create music with the sound of bones rattling together. She does not see any harm in using these "weapons" to help her win over men, which shows that she has no honor or respect for humans.

She uses these weapons to kill rather than to make music or even to give pleasure.

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More Quotes By Emily Dickinson
  1. If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.
  2. Morning without you is a dwindled dawn.
  3. Heart, we will forget him, You and I, tonight! You must forget the warmth he gave, I will forget the light.
  4. The Heart wants what it wants - or else it does not care
  5. Till I loved I never lived.
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