Emily Dickinson- The Art of Poetry
Introduction and Thesis
Emily Dickinson is a huge inspiration to many, predominantly after her death. She wrote over 1,800 poems throughout her lifetime. Although she had passed away in 1886 her poems were not popularized and released in pure unedited renditions until 1955. Her poems were written about subjects that are still very common in modern times such as “nature, religion, law, music, commerce, medicine, fashion, and domestic activities to probe universal themes: the wonders of nature, the identity of the self, death, and immortality, and love.” according to an article regarding her topic selections from the Emily Dickinson Museum. Emily Dickinson and her poems are universal and eternally a very significant part of literature, creating cognition of the feminist movement and recapturing the essence of poetry and its depth simply using elegantly refined expressions.
About the Author
December 10th, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts Emily Dickinson was born to her mother, Emily Norcross Dickinson who was said to be cold, and father, Edward Dickinson who was warm and caring. She shared her home with her brother William Austin Dickinson and sister by the name of Lavinia Dickinson. Her family was prominent and they were trustees of the Amherst college which were founded by her father’s father or her grandfather.
Emily was a wonderful, exemplary, and bright student according to her teachers. Although she exceeded academically she had a constant uneasiness of the death of herself and those around her and was sent away due to her severe unhappiness. When she returned she got involved in the community and got to be very close to her sister in law Susan Gilbert. Although many people believe Emily was very distant and recluse there is also controversy that she may have had a lesbian love affair with Susan, her brother’s wife who lived right next door.
“Dickinson’s later life is marked by illness and death: her father’s death in 1874, her mother’s stroke in 1875, her nephew Gib’s death at age eight in 1883, Otis Lord’s death in 1884, Helen Hunt Jackson’s death in 1885. The poet herself became ill shortly after her nephew Gib died: “The Crisis of the sorrow of so many years is all that tires me” (L873). She remained in poor health until she died at age 55 on May 15, 1886. She was buried four days later in the town cemetery, now known as West Cemetery.” (1865–1886: The Later Years) “From 1847 until her death, Dickinson did not leave the town of Amherst more than three times, and rarely left even her father’s house, writing in 1868, “I do not cross my father’s ground for any house or town.” (Richards Emily Dickinson House (U.S. National Park Service)
About the Poems
Emily Dickinson had a very vast range of topics and a very colorful depiction of her stories using perceptive wording that age very well. Very ahead of her time yet inspired by her fellow writers throughout the ages such as Psalms and Protestant hymns her line stanzas of ABCB are incredibly distinguishable and thought-provoking in effortless ease all using just a few words.
Dickinson’s poetry was widely overlooked during her time and this is primarily because of her rebellion towards the conventional women and the way a woman is supposed to act during her lifetime. Women were looked down upon as less than their husbands and thought of as nothing more than a house cleaner, cook, and caretaker of the children, not as writers. “Her honest and uninhibited writing made her an early feminist voice, even as she maintained an outward appearance of submissiveness. Nearly two centuries after Dickinson’s birth, her witty and frequently subversive poems are widely read, taught, and studied.” (Chicago Emily Dickinson)The Legacy
Dickinson changed poetry on the backs of envelopes and on the inside of chocolate bars she created a new realm of art that she didn’t even life to see flourish. “Dickinson’s poems have had a remarkable influence on American literature. Using original wordplay, unexpected rhymes, and abrupt line breaks, she bends literary conventions, demonstrating a deep and respectful understanding of formal poetic structure even as she seems to defy its restrictions.” (Chicago Emily Dickinson) Emily Dickinson’s impact of poetry forever holds a place on the self of literature creating a strong female figure who creates craftwork through language.
Works Cited
Rasch, Emily V. “Death as a Symbol of Feminism in the Works of Emily Dickinson.” Medium, Medium, 6 Dec. 2017, medium.com/@emilyvrasch/death-as-a-symbol-of-feminism-in-the-works-of-emily-dickinson-c6f0959029bb.
“1865–1886: The Later Years.” Emily Dickinson Museum, 2014, www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/emily-dickinson/biography/emily-dickinson-the-later-years-1865-1886/.
Chicago, Judy. “Emily Dickinson.” Brooklyn Museum: Emily Dickinson, 2011, www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/emily_dickinson.
Richards, Mary. “Emily Dickinson House (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2018, www.nps.gov/places/dickinson.htm.