Emily Dicken And Existentialism Essay

“I know that He exists,” is the first line in one of Emily Dickinson’s many poems. This is poem number 338, and it is one of her most famous poems even though most people do not understand it (Faulkner 8). Emily Dickinson is a well-known poet, but it was not always like that. During her lifetime, Dickinson rarely published her poems, and it was not until later that she became famous for her work (Crumbley 1). During Emily Dickinson’s life, she was a reserved person, to the point of being a recluse, which gives her life mystery and interest. She had many things that influenced her, and her unique style which created her unusual works. Through her later published work, she influenced many literary figures to come.

Emily Grierson is to be tried as guilty for the murder of Homer Barron. Witnesses have given the readers sufficient accounts of Miss Emily’s behavior to cause belief in her committing murder of the first degree. “First degree murder is found when the defendant intends to kill and does so with premeditation and deliberation” (Criminal Law Murder Model). The victim, having been found locked away in the house of Miss Emily (327), is the basis of prosecution for the accused. Emily Grierson will be found guilty of murder because she premeditated her crime, was psychologically unstable, and attempted to conceal her crime.

Poetry is meant to provoke in a thoughtful way. It makes the reader consider what the deeper meaning behind the piece may be. I Heard a Fly Buzz—when I died does all that but it also perplexes the reader, making one wonder what was Emily Dickison writing about in this poem? And what is the reader supposed to take away?

New York Times is proud to announce the very first device that is able to turn sound waves from a human's brain into music. The creator of this invention goes by the name of Emily Prokott.

The Victorian Era in England embraced strict societal values that dictated how women should submit to their parents when they are young, and to their husband when they are grown. While these notions may seem unnecessarily harsh from a modern standpoint, the phenomenon of finding comfort in these rigid standards existed during this time. For example, a woman who marries a wealthy man may be required to give up many of her own faculties and submit to her spouse’s rules, but she may be at ease knowing that she is well taken care of in terms of basic necessities in addition to luxury items. The idea of “finding immense support in rigid notions” played a “central role in the identity and culture” of Victorian England. This idea permeates in the life of the protagonist of the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Having grown up in an in which neither her intellect nor her emotions were ever acknowledged, Jane wrestles with the idea of conforming to Victorian standards for a woman, versus finding freedom in following her own passions as a single woman. Her journey through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood force her to reckon with “which restraints are worth enforcing” and “which would prove unnecessary, even harmful, if embraced”. Bronte represents Jane as a heroic woman of her time in the way that she remains true to herself despite instances of imprisonment and entrapment during each stage of her life.

The two most important lines of the poem are “Tell all the truth but tell it slant -” (line 1) and “Or every man be blind -” (line 8). These are the first and last lines in the poem, as well as the only two lines that end with a dash. I believe that these two lines combined form the complete message that Dickinson is trying to convey through the form of a cause and an effect. That is how telling the truth is a great thing, but too much of the truth will just burden people. All of the lines between those two are Dickinson’s poetic explanation of her main statement.

The purpose of life is to be happy; to seek a microcosm of something, and there find the slot where your piece fits. Once a person has become a part of something, happiness is achieved - and life is fulfilled; the priest finds the parish, the athlete finds the field, and the baker finds the bakery. Happily do they continue on with their lives, and to them, life is fulfilled. A haze of joy and mirth shields the everyday man from the reality of their insignificance; some admit it and manage on, but others crash and crumble under the weight of the truth: for what it is worth, the deeds of a man matter as much as the grime on a snail’s shell. This truth is not entirely grim; however, it does allure. Many have been drawn to find, for themselves, the truth of human worth. Existentialists focus on the question that is a concrete human existence, and the conditions of such existence; they do not dwell on a hypothesis for human essence, instead they stress that this essence is determined by an individual’s own life choices. Although humans live in the world, a distance is created in order to add meaning to the disinterested world; however, this meaning is fragile and can be disturbed by tragedy or insight. When this disturbance occurs, and humans’ precarious lives crumble, the true nature of the world is revealed; a nature that shows little importance for humans; this way of

Jane initially sees this phenomenon in Ms. Fairfax’s description of Mr. Rochester. To her, he is “a gentleman, a landed proprietor—nothing more.” The wealth and high standing of those like Mr. Rochester traits are celebrated, however, other important traits such as depth and character, are less important while evaluating a person. The same reality harshly affects Jane, as the Englishmen and women of higher social status see only her poverty just as they solely see Mr. Rochester’s wealth. Blanche is another consequence of Victorian England’s strict caste system, and Bronte specifically describes her as, “[not knowing] the sensations of sympathy and pity” (Vol. 2, chapter 3). Blanche represents the ideal woman and socialite in Victorian English society. Yet, her wealth, class, and beauty allow her to exhibit apathy and a superficial

The ideal woman was often presented as a delicate object that depended on a man. In the novel, the perfect definition of a lady by the standards of that time is none other than Lord Orville’s younger sister Lady Louisa. When Lady Louisa is seen at Mrs. Beaumont’s home, Evelina notices that she is “wobbling rather walking into a room” and that her voice “[spoke] so softly she could hardly be heard”. This demonstrates her extreme femininity for being very weak and fragile to the point that she is quickly “fatigued to death” (410). Moreover, another example was Mrs. Mirvan in the first volume who was a “kind and sweet-tempered woman” (132). Like a true lady of that time, she was highly dependent on a man and so she was often charged to “healing those wounds which her husband’s inflicts” (150). Yet, Lady Louisa still remains as the main example of a real lady due to her behavior. She was easily tired, enjoyed having the attention on her and associated herself solely with those who were of her class. Sir Clement Willoughby also presents his own impression of her Ladyship: “she is a mere compound of

“The existential attitude begins with a disoriented individual facing a confused world that the cannot accept” - Robert Solomon

One of the most persistent, haunting dilemmas is the uncertainty of the meaning of life. Although there is no single answer to this enigma, there are countless theories concerning it. For example, one philosophical approach is known as Existentialism. Jean Paul Sartre, a well-known existentialist, introduced his 3-word ideology, existence precedes essence in his lecture titled Existentialism is a Humanism which was presented during 1940’s Europe, a time when people needed a new foundation of thinking. From then, the theory gained popularity and became the backbone of future pieces. For example, even Charles M. Shultz’s cheery cartoon series Peanuts has camouflaged existential crises through it’s characters, particularly Charlie Brown and Snoopy. According to The Atlantic journalist Sarah Boxer, Peanuts offers more philosophical insight than one might expect, “the strip’s cozy suburban conviviality, its warm fuzziness, actually conveyed some uncomfortable truths about the loneliness of social existence” (1). Both Charlie and Snoopy are much like the characters found in existential literature, as they are alienated by their peers and, “like the existential human in a world of silent or absent deities, Schulz’s characters exist in a world of silent or absent adult authority” (Radke).

The Good Life is an expression representing how one would like to live out their life. In other words, how that person achieves happiness. The three more relevant theories that correlate to the Good Life are Daoism, Stoicism, and Existentialism. Since each person defines their happiness differently, each person has their own opinion as to whether or not what is read to be correct or not. The goal is to at least shine a light to what everyone seems drawn towards. Existentialism is an important theory to consider in order to achieve the Good Life. Although existentialism may not appeal to everyone as a reliable theory to achieve the Good Life, it does elaborate as to how existentialism can be used to attain the Good Life in the 21st century.

Emily Dickinson is recognized as one of the greatest American poets. She was very unique in her poet. She was born on December 10, 1830 to a well-known family, long established in New England born. Her family lived on Amherst, Massachusetts. Emily had 2 brothers, Austin and Lavinia. Emily had a special relationship with her father. When she attended her family church, she refused to join the Church officially and she even call herself a Christian or a believer. Emily was really a good student. But she only spent 1 year at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary because she dealt with health problem. Around the year 1850, Emily began writing poetry. During the 1860s and 1870s, Dickinson grew kind of more reclusive. She stopped wearing clothes with any hint of color and started wearing only white dresses. She also locked herself from anyone to visit her for days. In the 1870s and 1880s, a lot of the people who are close to her have died, like her mother and young nephew. These deaths affect her in her life and was a huge thing. In 1886, her health started to get. worse and worse and she suffered from a severe case of Bright's disease. She died on May 15, 1886.

Do we matter? Do we seek personal happiness in life? These are questions from existentialism. The dictionary defines existentialism as an individual’s experience filled with isolation in a hostile universe where a human being attempts to find true self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. Hamlet is an existentialist character who believes that he is forced to avenge his father’s death and the hatred builds in his heart because of the many betrayals which direct him towards a senseless life and constant thoughts about suicide; this ultimately leads to his demise and he is left with naught. The narrator from “Things that Fly” has obviously gone through some sort of abandonment which has affected him

When the word “mother” comes to mind, most people feel a sense of comfort and imagine a person who is giving, caring, and dependable. These may sounds like worthy qualities at first, but together they form a major source of oppression for any caregiving figure, and different feminist theories such as care-focused feminism, psychoanalytic feminism, and existentialist feminism all have something to say about it. Motherhood is certainly a necessary role in a family and even in society, but the social construction around this role has led to many different ideas about the way mothers and caregivers are treated versus how they should be treated. Motherhood is a source of oppression for women and in a patriarchal sex/gender system, it can be solved using a combination of educating children to how to be caring, using a dual-parenting method of care giving and trying to get women out of the home into the work force.