The Influences On Emily Dickinson's Poetry

The ensuing line states, “He kindly stopped for me” (Line 2). From this, the reader could possibly deduce that the narrator was glad to see death. Dickinson was known throughout her life to have been oddly fascinated with death and immortality, so it’s not out of the question to assume that this fascination was reflected in the narrator’s personality and was why death was welcomed. However, a more likely conclusion is that Dickinson was merely being ironic. Death is ominous as it is a leap into the unknown; we simply cannot fathom the eternity of afterlife. Taking us without consent from our lives (which we already have no power over), and thrusting us into an incomprehensible eternity is not exactly a kind act to commit, thus irony was used in this case. This further strengthens the idea that our lives are out of our control because with or without consent, death will choose to take a life whenever he pleases.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on 10th December, 1830, in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts. As a young child, she showed a bright intelligence, and was able to create many recognizable writings. Many close friends and relatives in Emily’s life were taken away from her by death. Living a life of simplicity and aloofness, she wrote poetry of great power: questioning the nature of immortality and death. Although her work was influenced by great poets of the time, she published many strong poems herself. Two of Emily Dickinson’s famous poems, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard a Fly Buzz- When I Died”,

To summarize Engle’s assessment concisely, she believes that Dickinson is a friend of death, and even confronts the aspect of her own afterlife. Engle calls the speaker’s final realization a “joyful abandonment,” a phrase that I heartily disagree with. The speaker is afraid and saddened by the prospect of her own death, as Emily

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

In the first stanza, Dickinson establishes through point of view that she is not witnessing any death but her own. Through auditory imagery she describes what she

Dickinson's poem focuses on the speaker's relationship with death as being more complex than some might feel inclined to imagine one's connection with it. It appears that the poet wants her readers to acknowledge that death is imminent and that it is

This provokes the readers' psyche of a lonesome, fragile individual, standing isolated at the end of an dark, treacherous road. This imagery is successfully used to illustrate a portrait of Dickinson, or even the individual reading the piece themselves, as they’re yearning for their new life, which right now is filled with darkness and sorrow. The poem is comprised of five stanzas, each consisting of four lines. The monotonous nature of the poem is nothing gleaming or eye catching, and this is purposely done for the conspicuous fact that sometimes, precious values and things you love are vaporized. With the abandonment of something important, the world does not stop revolving around you and seemingly mold itself for you. It will continue to revolve in the same way it always has for four and half billion years, but now only seeming to be filled with darkness, difficulty and

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.

Emily Dickinson’s reclusive life was arguably a result of her proposed bi-polar disorder. This life and disorder unduly influenced the themes of her poetry. She chose not to associate herself with society and volumes of her poems, published posthumously, examine this idea as well as the themes of nature and death. The clearest examples of these themes are presented in the following analysis of just of few of her

During the time of the Civil War, many people began to express their emotions through artistic techniques such as writing and art. There are numerous amounts of poets and writers who became known for this ability during the period. Emily Dickinson was one of those poets. Dickinson was not like the others of this time. She did not always have a happy life, but that helped her create some inspirational poems that we still know today. Dickinson tended to write about topics such as nature, feelings of loss and love, and life events. However, it was not until her death that her poems were published for all to see. Though Emily Dickinson was not remembered during her time, she will forever be an influential poet in our history.

     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.

Dickinson’s poetry was heavily influenced by the ongoings of her life. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830, as a younger sister and soon to be older sister. She was born as the middle child of three children. Her mother, Emily Norcross Dickinson, was a stay-at-home

(Poets.org) Another major influences were the books that she read, "For Emily Dickinson books were vehicles of the imagination -she defined them variously in poems as a “Frigate,” a “Bequest of Wings,” and “the Chariot / That bears the Human soul,” while those she loved best became her “Kinsmen of the Shelf.” She was born into a book-loving household and became a voracious reader who read widely, well beyond the well-stocked libraries of the Homestead and her brother Austin’s home next door" (museum). Also she was very influenced by all of the people around her and she wrote poems about a lot of her family and friends. "In childhood, aside from her schoolbooks, she read the Bible, and was given carefully chosen, principally moralistic, Sabbath School stories by her parents and relatives. Sometime later, a young man studying in her father’s law office slipped one of Lydia Maria Child’s historical novels into the Dickinson children’s hands. 'This then is a book! And there are more of them,' was her ecstatic response" (Museum). She was also very influenced by what was going on in the world. She read a lot of newspapers to keep up with current events. "..Dickinson kept up with current events through the daily reading of The Springfield Republican, perhaps New England’s best political and literary newspaper" (Museum). Dickinson took influence from everything

“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.

This poem is written in ballad form which is odd because one would think of a ballad and think a love story or an author gushing on about nature not an allegory about personified Death. Dickinson both unites and contrasts love/courtship with death, experimenting with both reader’s expectations and the poetic convention dictating specific poem form. This is why Dickinson is widely hailed because of her unconventional writing methods.