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Dusting
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“Dusting” is a free verse, unmetered poem. It is a poem in five stanzas, with the stanzas and lines both varying in length. Stanza three—the middle stanza—is the longest of the five at 12 lines. The first stanza is seven lines long, the second increases to nine, and the middle increases again. The fourth stanza is eight lines long, and the fifth stanza is a sharp decrease to one line. The first half of the poem grows toward the middle, and the second half shrinks.
“Dusting” features a handful of rhyming pairs placed at irregular intervals. In the first stanza, the words “sight” (Line 2) and “light” (Line 5) both appear in the middle of lines, at the ends of phrases. This perfect rhyming pair has a third slant rhyme at the end of the stanza, with the word “life” (Line 7). The second stanza also has a slant rhyme: “booth” (Line 13), again appearing in the middle of the line, rhymes with the very last word of the stanza and the only word in its line, “wound” (Line 16). The ends of stanzas three and four, “free” (Line 28) and “tree” (Line 36), form a perfect rhyme. The last pair is another perfect rhyme: “Desert-in-Peace” (Line 34) near the middle of the second-to-last stanza rhymes with the last word, “Maurice” (Line 37). The relaxed non-structure of occasional rhyme gives the poem a dreamy, easygoing feel.
Repetition also gives the poem some structure. Repeating the word “and” in Line 13 increases the pace between the phrases. This pulls the reader quickly through the vivid imagery from the carnival memory, evoking an overwhelming feeling of a sudden recollection. In the fourth stanza, the word “before” appears three times (Lines 29, 31, 35). This separates out the three defining aspects of Beulah’s married life: two new names and the tree that casts a shadow. It creates a rhythm within the stanza. The third instance varies slightly, becoming “Long before” (Line 35). This slight change signals to the reader that something new is coming, and it prepares the reader for the end of the sequence.
Point of View
Point of view is defined as the “person from whom the events of the story are told” (Point of View). “Dusting” is told in the third-person point of view, meaning the speaker narrates the events from outside the poem. However, the speaker adopts an incredibly close view to Beulah’s own perspective. When a question pops into Beulah’s head, the speaker seamlessly integrates it into the poem alongside narration. When Beulah mentally checks out of the present moment, the speaker abandons their dusting narration to follow her thoughts. The speaker employs short phrases and run-on sentences that mimic the associative movement of a mind. For example, the entire frozen fishbowl memory is one long sentence punctuated by commas and conjunctions (“the front door / blown open and the parlor / in snow, she rushed” [Lines 22-24]).
This tight adherence to Beulah’s thoughts is a specific kind of third-person perspective: limited third-person. This point of view keeps the speaker from revealing any information before Beulah thinks it. This is why the reader does not know Maurice’s name until Beulah does. Present tense also aids this choice, because it gives the reader the feeling that the events of the poem are unfolding as they read.
Imagery
“Dusting” is full of evocative images that conjure and control the mood of the poem. For example, take the word “grainstorm” (Line 5). This portmanteau, or blending of two separate words into one, combines the “grain” of the wood with the word “storm.” This creates the image of a textured wood surface as well as a flurry of cleaning. The word is also one letter away from a rainstorm, a term that suggests turmoil and perhaps dangerous weather like lightning. The “gray cloth” (Line 6) strengthens this rain connection, while the line “dark wood to life” (Line 7) suggests a streak of bright lightning in a stormy sky. Taken altogether, the woodgrain imagery in the first stanza creates a sense of dread at the storm brewing inside of Beulah. The image of the frozen fishbowl also crystallizes the mood. The fish is trapped in a “locket of ice” (Line 26). The word “locket” suggests romance and safekeeping, but combined with the ice, it becomes sinister and suffocating. When the fish “swam free” (Line 28) from the locket, it broke free from its constraints in order to breathe again.
Some of the images in “Dusting” are built out of figurative language. “The canary in bloom” (Line 20) may be a literal canary in the solarium. It may also be the figurative canary of Beulah’s imagination. Beulah’s memories are a happy refuge for her mind, warm and comforting like a welcome sun. Her full-throttle imagination could be said to be singing like a bird. The singing image pairs well with “Each dust / stroke a deep breath” (Line 19), making the strokes and breaths a key part of the imagined song. In this moment, the poem feels light and free, like Beulah’s wandering mind.
Another figurative image is found at the end of the fourth stanza: “the shadow and / sun’s accomplice, the tree” (Line 16). The shadow is a vague but ominous allusion to married life, given the context of prior lines. The tree schemes with the sun, and the pair form a formidable foe. The tree is another vague but ominous element. Trees must grow in order to cast long shadows, so the tree here is something that has been rooted in Beulah’s life for a long time. A sturdy force, it casts a shadow she cannot hope to escape. This image yanks the poem back into the grim reality of Beulah’s situation, with the shadow looming eternally.
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