[i dwell in a house made of writer's blocks]

One primary function of the em-dash in Emily Dickinson’s “I dwell in possibility” is to take the function of a stronger, more effective period. The dashes make for abrupt, yet more elongated pauses when read. By doing this, Dickinson creates further emphasis on particular words. In the first stanza, these stressed words are “Possibility,” “Prose,” “Windows,” “Superior,” and “for Doors.” Since one must pause after an em-dash, the reader will linger on these words more. 

In this same stanza, Dickinson writes that she would rather the openness of possibility, as opposed to prose which is limited. She compares the two to a house, the house of possibility being one composed primarily of windows making it the “superior“ one, and the prose, as it is limited and closed-off, is a house of mostly doors. “for Doors” is especially separated from in the stanza, to create a sense of being cut off or separated; isolation in a sense. 

On the other hand, in the second stanza, the dashes are present as more of a way to connect the different lines. In the second stanza, Dickinson is listing that which makes this “house of possibility” better. This is a meta-poem, and Dickinson is glorifying poetry over prose. Possibility and poem are synonymous to her here. 

Through her (what some might see as) excessive and unconventional use of dashes, Dickinson is making an example of exactly what she is entailing in the poem itself. Through her use of dashes, she is able to make use of minimal words. For example, she writes “Of Visitors--the fairest--.” By placing “the fairest” in between the dashes, she is effortlessly accentuating just how fair these visitors are, without any other words necessary.