“Mental Illness in Literature: How mental illness can be detected in mediums such as written literature, letters, and medical history; with a specific focus on Emily Dickinson’s link of mental illness to reclusiveness within her works titled “It was not Death, for I stood up,” “After great pain, a Formal feeling comes,” “I dwell in Possibility,” “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun,” and “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant”.” Emily Dickinson is one of the most influential female poets of the 19th century. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830, Dickinson began her life as a normal child. Growing up, Dickinson had more opportunities than most women of the 19th century; being able to attend the all-female Amherst Academy, as well as Mount …show more content…
Theodora Ward, a transcriber and analyst of Dickinson’s letters, describes the letters and poems to take on “acute sensitivity.” (Ward) Emily Dickinson did not reach her full potential as a poet until the 1860’s. Before her thirtieth birthday is when Emily Dickinson decided to never leave her home again. The decision, stated by Theodora Ward, was “clearly reflected in the letters after 1860” (Ward). Emily Dickinson’s poem My Life Had Stood – A Loaded Gun was written circa 1862, just two years after her decision to never leave her home again. This poem incorporates the theme of death; but it a different context. Dickinson does not refer to death as the powerful main focus, but moreover the ability to die. In the second stanza, the focus shifts from a gun as the main subject of the poem to Dickinson using the term “We” to become the voice and guardian of the master. The gun serves as a symbol for the relationship between life and death, and while the gun can outlive its master; it really never lives at all without the power to die. If Dickinson spoke about death in this context, could she be in a manic depression in which she cares no longer to live? (Ward) Emily Dickinson was healthy most of her life. When she was younger, she displayed symptoms of having tuberculosis. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was very afraid of the disease and had her treated immediately. Other than the tuberculosis
Born into an upper-class family in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson was a structured woman and writer. Coming from a prominent family with two siblings, it was unusual that Dickenson didn't want for much in life, not even seeking fame as a poet. Dickinson was known for being private and was even accused of being a recluse. During her lifetime, Dickinson preferred being indoors and was notorious for her isolation from the world. Although she was shy in nature, Dickinson spoke out in her poems and was never afraid to share her thoughts about life and religion. However, it was not until after her
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
The Belle of Amherst, The Woman in White, or The Most Paradoxical of Poets…who can say which pseudonym is most becoming of the late great Emily Dickinson. By virtue of the multitudinous biographical literary works, moreover the wondrous intimacy of Dickinson’s poetry, one could surmise that as readers we comprehend her entirely: yet the most prevalent experience borne from reading Emily’s work, especially if her poems are read successively, is that we come away feeling as though we know nothing at all. Like no author before her and very few after her, Emily Dickinson divulges her hearts hidden secrets while recording what is inexorably one of the most conscientious explorations of the human consciousness ever attempted. Dickinson is known posthumously for her unusual use of form and syntax, but it was her pervasive themes of immortality, death, and madness in her poems that would canonize her as an indelible American character.
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.
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.
Emily Dickinson was a very important poet of the nineteenth century, even though she did not have any of her poems published under her name until after her death. She did have some published anonymously and she put poems in letters to her friends after her isolation. Dickinson 's writing obviously did not stop at this though. “Upon her death, Dickinson 's family discovered 40 handbound volumes of nearly 1800 of her poems, or "fascicles" as they are sometimes called” (Poets Online). She wrote all of these poems for herself with seemingly no intent to get rich or famous off of them, but just to use her intelligence or express her emotions that could not be expressed during this time period. “Much Madness is divinest Sense” is a very good representation of Emily Dickinson and her life; it was full of intelligence, creativity, and rebellion. Emily Dickinson did not assent with the majority, she demurred and created her own status quo.
In Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” there is much impression in the tone, in symbols, and in the use of imagery that exudes creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to an eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone in Dickinson’s poem. Dickinson uses controlling adjectives—“slowly” and “passed”—to create a tone that seems rather placid. For example, “We slowly drove—He knew no haste / …We passed the School … / We passed the Setting Sun—,” sets a slow, quiet, calm, and dreamy atmosphere (5, 9, 11,
Emily Dickinson was born December 10, 1830, Amherst, MA to Edward Dickinson, a Yale graduate and politician, and Emily Norcross Dickinson. She was the middle child with an older brother, William Austin Dickinson and a younger sister, Lavinia Norcross Dickinson. She went to school at Amherst Academy for seven years (1840–1847) and she went to Mount Holyoke College. Emily Dickinson is very well-known for her life of social seclusion. Though she is known as one the greatest poets of all time, she was not known of as a great poet during her lifetime. After she died her sister, Lavinia, found hundreds of poems Emily had written. Without these poems, American Literature would have been set back many years. She, along with Walt Whitman, is considered
Emily Dickinson a modern romantic writer, whose poems considered imaginative and natural, but also dark as she uses death as the main theme many times in her writings. She made the death look natural and painless since she wanted the reader to look for what after death and not be stuck in that single moment. In her poems imagination play a big role as it sets the ground for everything to unfold in a magical way. The speakers in Dickinson’s poetry, are sharp-sighted observers who see the inescapable limitations of their societies as well as their imagined and imaginable escapes. To make the abstract tangible, to define meaning without confining it, to inhabit a house that never became a prison, Dickinson created in her writing a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized. She turned increasingly to this style that came to define her writing. The poems are rich in aphorism and dense
In Dickinson's "My Life Had Stood—A Loaded Gun", I interpreted the poem literally, thinking the poem was really about a gun and the relationship with its owner. But as I read the poem more and more, I felt the power and rage engulfed into this piece. I also gathered that, like most of Dickinson's poetry,
When initially read, the poem “The Soul Has Bandaged Moments,” portrays a woman whose soul is constantly “bandaged,” (l.1) emphasizing the horror of anxiety that plagues the human psyche. When in fact, it is paramount to recognize Dickinson’s recurrent use of symbolism to understand the true theme behind these erroneous notions. One
One of the prevalent themes of Emily’s work is death. Since she wrote about her inner world and troubles, death as a theme could not be avoided. Emily Dickinson had to face the losing friends to death. Several deaths of family members, including her mother, father and a nephew helped contribute to the theme in her poetry. These events affected her health but she found a way to cope with the idea of death with her poetry. She developed an attitude towards death, seeing it as a transition from mortality to immortality. She accepted its inevitability and tried to make
Emily Dickinson was an American poet from the 19th century was not recognized as poet until after her death. She wrote an abundance of over two thousand poems. Dickinson was not a social person. She mainly kept to
“America is not winning this war against drugs,” says Block and Obioha from a 2012 article. My group is addressing the problem of War on Drugs that is creating hardships on millions of people across the United States. We are going to address the money aspect and the effect it has on both the local and federal economy, proposals currently in effect and proposals that should be made, and the states that have currently legalized drugs like marijuana. I will be covering the effects the War on Drugs has on communities.
Emily Dickinson was a poet who lived from 1830 – 1886. She was born to a family in Amherst, Massachusetts. “Dickinson attended Amherst Academy and later, for a year, the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary.” (Dickinson, 481) She had doubts and rebelled against the beliefs of those at the institute.