Emily Dickinson Comparison

In the poems of Emily Dickinson, there are many instances in which she refers to her seclusion and loneliness, and how wonderful the two can be. In a book entitled, Emily Dickenson: Singular Poet, by Carl Dommermuth, she writes: "She (Dickinson) apparently enjoyed a normal social life as a school girl, but in later years would seldom leave her home. She was passionate yet distant." This distance Dommermuth speaks of is quite evident in Dickinson's works. Dickinson not only loves her loneliness but also feels as though she cannot live without it.

Emily Dickinson chose not to conform to the madness of society and shut out many of the people that she felt wanted to change her. She wrote a poem called “The Soul Selects Her Own Society,” in this poem she writes about how the soul shuts certain people out and confides in only one person. Emily Dickinson writes “Then- close the Valves of her attention- Like Stone-,”

Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe were histories most proficient writers and their work speaks for itself. They were born in the same time frame and they knew a lot about each other’s work. Their life lessons are what contributed to their remarkable poetry writing and what made them who they are today. Poe and Dickinson do share similar topics in their poetry writing, some are also dissimilar in which all of them focuses a lot on pain, death, love and nature.

Emily Dickinson, recognized as one of the greatest American poets of the nineteenth century, was born December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts (Benfey, 1). Dickinson’s greatness and accomplishments were not always recognized. In her time, women were not recognized as serious writers and her talents were often ignored. Only seven of her 1800 poems were ever published. Dickinson’s life was relatively simple, but behind the scenes she worked as a creative and talented poet. Her work was influenced by poets of the seventeenth century in England, and by her puritan upbringing. Dickinson was an obsessively private writer. Dickinson withdrew herself from the social contract around the age of thirty and devoted herself, in secret, to writing.

Emily Dickinson, born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, is regarded as one of America’s best poets. After a poor experience at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, where she was regarded as a “no hope,” her writing career took off in full swing. Although her family was more conservative, regular churchgoers, and socially prominent town figures, Dickinson preferred a socially reserved lifestyle that renounced the traditional values of her day (Baym, 1189-93). The iconoclastic spirit pervasive in Emily Dickinson's poetry reflects her conflict with the traditions of New England society.

Since the emergence of written history, many fables regarding war have encompassed a significant portion of prosodic literature. Two of the foremost war poets of the 19th and 20th century—Emily Dickinson and Rupert Brooke—have both written about profound implications of war on society and also upon the human spirit albeit in two very different styles. The book, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, theorizes through Allie, that Emily Dickinson was indubitably the superior war poet. Furthermore, when we analyze their works as well, we realize the invariable fact that Dickinson’s work delves into war with a much more holistic approach as well. She not only honours the soldiers for their valiant efforts, but also deftly weaves notions of liberty and civilian duty in regards to war as well as compared to Rupert Brooke who carried a romanticized imagery of martyrs within his poetry. In summation, Emily Dickinson is a superior war poet for her incisive analysis of death, and human nature in correspondence to war as compared to the patriotic salvos of Rupert Brooke’s poetry.

Emily Dickinson was a woman who, in a way, distanced herself from the outside world. Many people today know her because of her poems, but her poems were not the only the thing that she is unique for. Emily Dickinson is a woman who endured through childhood and her adult life of writing poems, but was never really famous until she was dead. However, all because of Emily’s early life, childhood, adult life, and becoming famous after she died, she inspires many people today.

Dickinson's poem 260 was really interesting. Specifically when she writes, “I'm Nobody! Who are you?/ Are you—Nobody – too?/ Then there's a pair of us!/ Dont tell! They'd advertise – you know!” (1-4) What seems a little unexpected is that this poem can be read with multiple meanings. It seems Dickinson could be talking about her and her lover sharing a melancholy and unhealthy bond, or she could be describing a side of her personality that she hides considering her individual thinking led to an ostracized life. Also, Dickinson could be suggesting what other like minded-thinkers endure.

In her poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” Dickinson cleverly satirizes the public sphere, public officials who try to establish their own self-importance through popularity, and the masses who grant them popularity. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker declares himself of herself as “Nobody,” declaring that he or she functions outside of the public sphere. This idea is consistent with Dickinson’s famed reclusiveness—ironically, her fame for being un-famous during her time.

*Reprinted by permission of the publisher and the Trustees of Amherst College from The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Thomas H. Johnson, ed. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, copyright 1951,

Who Are You?” a poem which comically pokes fun at the public figures of her times, proclaiming how dreary it is to be a “Somebody “. Throughout this poem, Dickinson uses imagery, diction, and figurative language in order to convey her message that it is preferable to be a humble nobody instead of an arrogant somebody because being a well-known can come with loss of individuality and extensive work to be keep oneself relevant.

In Dickinson “This is My Letter to the World”, Emily is speaking to herself not to the world. As a reader it

Dickinson’s poem talks about how people don’t choose their friends knowingly, but rather their souls choose their friends unconsciously, not being influenced by material desires. Whereas the speaker in “The Dresser” is found multiple times in each stanza, the speaker in Dickinson’s poem is only included once: “I’ve known her - from an ample nation - Choose One” (The Soul Selects Her Own Society, Emily Dickinson). In representing the speaker in her poetry, Dickinson offers no introduction to the speaker whatsoever; the speaker is a nameless character, completely unknown to the reader. Additionally, the line in which the speaker appears barely contributes to the poem’s meaning, only adding a simple observation about the subject of the poem.

In Success..., Dickinson reflects on the nature of success and how, ironically, it can be best appreciated and understood by those who have not achieved it and have no taste of it. As in "Faith"..., Dickinson powerfully presents her thoughts in a few lines. The poem deals only with one, ironic but universal, idea in its short length. It is the bitterness expressed at this irony (as found it Dickinson's juxtaposition of the words sweetest and sorest, separated by two lines) that is most felt by the reader. While the previous poem expresses the poetess' bitterness and sorrow with one aspect of her life, I'm Nobody! Who Are You? uses humor without irony to address another. In this poem, Dickinson style appears almost child-like in its of descriptions including frogs and bogs, as well as the lively energy expressed by the poem through its use of dashes and brief wording. Dickinson seems to be addressing her spinster, hermit-like existence (I'm Nobody) and her preference to it.

Emily Dickinson is a pillar of the American poets society. She has been called the best and greatest original poet of her time in America.1 In her work “ I’m Nobody” Emily defines her humor and wit crucial to her status of one of Americans best poets. There are some who have argued her work pushed the envelope of self-expression through experimentation with the conventional restraints of persona with the humor and self reflection connecting to American readers.2 This study examines the poem “ I’m Nobody” humor, self reflection style, structure, tone, and imagery that builds synergy with the text’s content to shape its effects upon the readers. The poem “ I’m Nobody” when broken down into sections tells us why Emily Dickinson is a master of her discipline.