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Emily Dickinson 's Poems On Death, Religion, And Love

Decent Essays

Emily Dickinson was a famous American poet whose work was published in the late 19th century. Her writing style was seen by many as unconventional due to her use of “dashes and syntactical fragments”(81), which was edited out by her original publishers. These fragmented statements and dashes were added to emphasize certain lines and subjects to accentuate the theme of her poems. Emily Dickinson wrote descriptive, moving poems on death, religion, and love. Her poems continue to create gripping discussions among scholars on the meaning behind her words.
Emily Dickinson was thought to have an obsession with death, which could be caused by two things. Firstly in the later stages of her life, many of her friends and family members passed away. Secondly, there was a window in her house where she could overlook the cemetery witnessing numerous burials. This caused her to have a constant reminder of mortality and her thoughts frequently turned to death. Poems like 280, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (87) illustrate a clear insight into how she was affected by the frequent presence of death. In the poem, Dickinson describes a funeral service that she observes. “And Mourners to and fro/ Keep treading – treading – till it seemed/ That Sense was breaking through”(87). For the mourners, it can be difficult to accept the death of a loved one. People are moving from person to person, trying to make sense of the tragedy that has occurred. Dickinson describes mourners ‘treading’ around,

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