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My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun –

Dashes!

Dashes – for heaven's sake – dashes! There really isn’t anyone before Dickinson who used lots of dashes, and anyone after likely took a cue from her. Excessive use of dashes is such a Dickinson calling card that any poem with a bunch of dashes must either be by Ms. Dickinson herself or someone trying to be as cool as she is.