Emily Dickinson's Poems

Emily Dickinson was an American poetess during the 19th century, born in Amherst, Massachusetts, December 10, 1830. Dickinson died at the age of 56, on May 15, 1886. Although her family was prominent, she was most unsociable, being intensely solitary. People considered her as an eccentric, as she showed disinclination towards guests, which in some cases, even caused them to leave, leaving most of her acquaintanceships founded upon by correlation. Dickinson was known for her adherence for wearing white clothing, and her introverted personality. She remained unwedded for life, and rarely ever left her front gate of her homestead. Emily Dickinson started writing poetry in her youthful years, and was encouraged by Benjamin Franklin Newton to continue her writings. During her teenage years, she had uncovered poetic works through verses of Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Wordsworth, she also deeply admired by John Keats and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Her poetry was deeply affected by the Book of Revelation, and her Puritan background, that influenced her to explore concepts like love and death, and write in styles that made her be noticeable to the crowd. Critics believe that her biggest influence in poetry was Reverend Charles Wadsworth, whom she had met on her trip to Philadelphia, and fell in love with him. It is believed that her flow of verses came when Wadsworth left, which gave rise to heartsick poems, as she had considered him as her “closest

Emily Dickinson often refers to loss and absence in her poetry. It is not often seen as strictly negative though. It is, however, seen as inevitable. It is not always inevitable in the negative sense though. It is sometimes seen as necessary in order to understand life. There seems to be an overall theme of loss being a part of life. This theme can be seen upon examining poems 67, 1036, and 870.

“I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean” (Socrates). What does it mean to be this type of poet? How can someone accomplish such success in poetry, the answer is just two words Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson spent a large portion of her life in isolation, not because she was forced to or because she was ill, Dickinson simply wanted to be alone and because of her isolation she became one of the greatest female poets of all time. Emily Dickinson set the bar high for other female poets and created some of the most renowned poems in the world. The two poems “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” and “Tell all the Truth but Tell it Slant” are drastically different poems that tell two different stories, but there are some aspects that cause them to be similar: Imagery, tone, and the statement that the two poems make.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson is one of the best poets in America. She is known for her uncommon way of writing poetry. There was a great deal of problems going on in her life. She spent mostly her entire life living in her home and only left unless she needed to do so. Unlike other poets, she did not have any order to her writings. She just wrote what she was feeling. Her work was anonymously published and later became known after her death.

“To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable”— John

Emily Dickinson is perhaps one of the most intriguing American poets studied. The remote look in her eyes mirror her life, which she mostly spent secluded in her home in Amherst, Massachusetts. While leading an outwardly reclusive life, she unleashes the faculties of her mind in her powerful poetry. She addresses compelling themes such as death, depression, human despair, individual capability, and the art of poetry. Her feelings on these subjects emerge in her poems, but her exact thoughts are difficult to uncover since her poetry is so highly enigmatic. Likewise, the subject matter of Christianity in her poetry remains one of the most inconsistent of Dickinson’s recurring themes. Emily Dickinson posses an uncanny ability to wrestle down the perfect diction, thus creating worlds of hope, despair, faith, and endless questioning.Through her use of imagery, Dickinson displays her linguistic prowess and the intricacies of language.

Emily Dickinson lost her father on June 16, 1874 (Sewall 69). The sudden loss of her father stunned her and she wrote in a letter that she was “wondering where he is. Without any body, I keep thinking. What kind can that be” (Letter, 471). When Dickinson’s mother passed away in November of 1882, Dickinson also wrote in a letter about her “wonder at her fate” and she was “seeking what it means” (Letter, 815). The “wonder” in both letters shows that Emily Dickinson is a person who looks inward for the mystery of death. Many of her poems convey her preoccupation with death, concern with immortality and doubts about fulfillment beyond the grave. I will analyze “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died” (591) and “Because I could not stop for Death” (479), both of which deal with the death and eternity. These two poems reflect the conflicting attitudes of Emily Dickinson towards afterlife.

     Emily Dickinson is one of the most famous authors in American History, and a good amount of that can be attributed to her uniqueness in writing. In Emily Dickinson's poem 'Because I could not stop for Death,' she characterizes her overarching theme of Death differently than it is usually described through the poetic devices of irony, imagery, symbolism, and word choice.

Poem 336 was one of the hundreds of poems written by Emily Dickinson that were not published until after her death. The poem reflects the two main identities of Dickinson’s persona on the literal level Dickinson evinces her love for nature and romantic style however on a metaphorical level she conveys her desire to free herself of her traditional life style. The majority of Dickinson’s poetry was written in the romantic fashion her fascination with nature is exemplified greatly in this poem. Dickinson purposefully treats every element of nature as it were a proper noun.

Emily Dickinson is most of the the most famous poets that has ever lived, next to Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. Although, what is interesting to find out if that she only published one poem anonymously before she died, and never saw any success in her lifetime but still made a huge impact on american poetry..

Emily Dickinson is one of the most famous poets that has ever lived, next to Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. Interestingly, Dickinson published less than ten poems before she died. Although Dickinson never saw any success in her lifetime, she still made a huge impact on American poetry today.

Through the process of my liberal arts education, I have had several teachers and professors praise and crucify the biographical approach to literary analysis. Dickinson is perhaps more mysterious than any other writer I have studied. Part of the mystery has been created by analysts trying to decipher the meaning of poems written by a reclusive woman who published little of her work while still alive. During her life, Dickinson was not famous. Her fame and much of her profile has been created after her death. In an attempt to decipher her work, several literary scholars have used a biographical approach to Emily Dickinson and her poetry. My knowledge about Dickinson’s

Dickinson would have deep mediation poems, this poem “Three times my life had open” is to have its own zazen, the act of serious meditating presents. Hirshfield practiced in Zen Buddhism focus strongly on appreciation to nature. Similarly, Dickinson’s family broadly believed to educate yourself about nature was to have appreciation for God’s work. Both shared religious like poems, Dickinson’s would eventually be more to question God and Hirshfield occasionally would have a “direct reference to Buddhism” (Varner).

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born December 10, 1830, into an influential family in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her father helped found Amherst College, where Emily later attended between 1840 and 1846. She never married and died in the house where she was born on May 15, 1886.

Emily Dickinson was one of the many famous American poets whose work was published in the 19th century. Her writing style was seen as unconventional due to her use of “dashes and syntactical fragments”(81), which was later edited out by her original publishers. These fragmented statements and dashes were added to give emphasis to certain lines and subjects to get her point across. Even though Emily Dickinson was thought to be a recluse, she wrote descriptive, moving poems on death, religion, and love. Her poems continue to create gripping discussions among scholars on the meaning behind her poems.