comparing emerson and dickinson Essay

Throughout the ages, American authors have changed the way people of their era and future eras think about society and their own livelihoods. Both Dickinson and Thoreau have questioned society and even changed what society deemed the norm through their writings. Two of these writers, Emily Dickinson and David Thoreau, isolated themselves from society so they could express themselves more freely. Their thoughts of society differ throughout their writing, their reclusiveness to society and seriousness to their writing. One can find some similarities in both writer’s works. These similarities show that one should be steadfast in their beliefs even if they oppose society. We should learn to live without constraint

by inserting herself in the story, by identifying its spiritualities with her sensualities. (66). In Eden, Dickinson found a place where the body and soul are not separate, opposing entities;

Although Dickinson does not mention heaven or hell in the poem, her point of view seems as if she is satisfied with her final resting place. The theme of the poem being that death is natural and unstoppable for everybody also gives comfort that it is not the end of a soul’s journey. The reader can recognize the poem's

As feminist literary scholars Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar noted, "It was combining Transcendentalism with the Bible and her Puritan background which enabled Dickinson to contrive her own interpretation of theology which was expressed through her poetry" (843).

Emily Dickinson was an exceptional writer through the mid-late 1800’s. She never published any of her writings and it wasn’t until after her death that they were even discovered. The complexity of understanding her poems is made prevalent because of the fact that she, the author, cannot expound on what her writing meant. This causes others to have to speculate and decide for themselves the meaning of any of her poems. There are several ways that people can interpret Emily Dickinson’s poems; readers often give their opinion on which of her poems present human understanding as something boundless and unlimited or something small and limited, and people always speculate Dickinson’s view of the individual self.

She viewed conformity as a chain around the neck or enslavement to society. On line 8 of her poem “Much Madness is divinest sense”it says “Demur- You’re straightway dangerous- and handled with a chain” (line 8). This line is saying that people who stand out or cause doubt in a situation are dangerous and are eventually chained or tied up so that they will no longer cause doubt in other people’s minds. People are scared of things that are different and would rather chain them up in the corner than allow them to be different. Richard Wilbur wrote that “Emily Dickinson found that she must refuse to become a professing Christian. (pg. 1131)” This was yet another way that she stood out and did not conform to society. While many people were professing Christians during that time, she chose to worship in a different way. She was not concerned with what others thought, she was more concerned with how she was going to do things and this changed the way she wrote poetry.

She claims, “How dreary to be somebody! How public like a frog” (Dickinson). Shunning away from the blind conformity of the masses and focusing on oneself a transcendentalist idea that Dickinson values. Both Emily Dickinson and Mr. Keating believe that individuality trumps conformity, and they both inspire others to view life in the same light.

In the poem “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church,” Emily Dickinson expresses the feeling that everybody practices their faith and religion in a different way. The narrator of this poem portrays the idea of self practice. Being able to completely understand and interpret the meaning of this piece of poetry was not a short and simple process. When first reading “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” I was a little confused and unaware of what was happening in the reading. However, in the end I came to realize the poem had a much bigger meaning than just a person sitting in their backyard with the birds.

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.

Approaching Emily Dickinson’s poetry as one large body of work can be an intimidating and overwhelming task. There are obvious themes and images that recur throughout, but with such variation that seeking out any sense of intention or order can feel impossible. When the poems are viewed in the groupings Dickinson gave many of them, however, possible structures are easier to find. In Fascicle 17, for instance, Dickinson embarks upon a journey toward confidence in her own little world. She begins the fascicle writing about her fear of the natural universe, but invokes the unknowable and religious as a means of overcoming that fear throughout her life and ends with a contextualization of herself within

Although Emily Dickinson was born towards the end of the Transcendentalist movement in 1830, her views later in life, specifically those concerning women’s right and religion, align nicely with the previous wave of new thought (“Emily Dickinson’s Life”). Transcendentalism encouraged individualism and pushed for self-reliance. The movement also spoke loudly for feminism, abolition, reform, and education while resisting government, religion, and laws (“American Philosophy”). For Emily Dickinson, part of what made her so similar to Transcendentalists is the fact that she possessed an impressive imagination that she allows to shine in her poetry (“Emily Dickinson’s Life”). Considering that the movement created a mindset

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.

In opposition to “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, Dickinson published her work of “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died”. In this particular piece of literature, the author disbeliefs in an afterlife. In this poem, a woman is lying on bed with her family surrounding her, waiting for the woman to pass away. The woman, however, is anxiously waiting for “…the kings”, meaning an omnipotent being. Finally when the woman dies, her eyes or windows, as referred in the poem, “could not see to see “. When the woman passes away, she couldn’t see any angels or gods as she expected would be there, but instead, she is fluttered into nothingness. She isn’t traveling to an afterlife as she had expected to unlike in the poem of “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. The woman finds out that death is a simple end to everything.

Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” is both a memory and an account of faith. Dickinson was raised in a time where Religion and faith were at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The churches of the time were trying hard to meld traditional religious practices with new theological and scientific ideals. As her family and friends began to join the Church and push for Emily to pursue membership, she resisted and ultimately never joined. However in Emily’s works you can see the struggles she faces with her faith and God. This poem is no different. “Because I could not stop for Death” is in fact proof that even though Dickinson challenged God and religious tone changes throughout her works, she did have faith in some form of immortality.

The nineteenth century produced many esteemed authors, including Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman who became two of Americas most popular poets. While vastly different in style and personality, both Dickinson and Whitman relate to many people on an emotional level through their poetry, even in the twenty-first century. The works of poetry by Dickinson and Whitman can be compared on levels of style and form and both writers composed beautiful verses of high quality. Through the following comparisons, it will become apparent how Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman influenced American literature and culture both in similar and diverse ways.