Emily Dickinson “Poems” (1890)
Intro and Thesis
Emily Dickinson, who is regarded as one of America’s greatest poets, wrote nearly 1800+ pieces of poetry that are still analyzed till this day. Dickinson is well known for her unusual life, mainly from her self seclusion from the outside world, living in her home till her death came in 1886. As Emily Dickinson willingly secluded herself from society, she began writing poems which to this day still inspire upcoming writers. These poems often questioned death and life, and most times touched on other deep topics. This lifestyle in which Dickinson adopted inevitably led to lots of interest in Dickinson, but her poems still stand as the main interest of her audience today, as many who have read her poems study the works and speculate meanings of texts. I would like to dive into Dickinson’s life and analyze her early beginnings and how she has affected the literary world today.
About the Author
To understand Emily Dickinson further and how her life affected her work, we must first analyze Dickinson’s beginnings. Emily Dickinson was born in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10th, 1830. Dickinson was born into a family of “pillars” of the town’s community, and lived in her house which was called “The Homestead” or “Mansion.” Here there would be a number of highly well-known guests, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, who we have studied in our course a little as well. Little Dickinson started off life already displaying her smart and creative self to those around her. According to biographyonline.net, “As a young child, Emily proved to be a bright and conscientious student. She showed a sharp intelligence and was able to create many original writings of rhyming stories, delighting her fellow classmates.” This could have been due to her strict up-bringing which her father adopted to make sure he was able, “to bring up his children in the proper way.” Her father even went as far as banning certain books from his children’s grasp due to them being “inappropriate”, but that didn’t stop Dickinson from sneaking these books in. It is expressed from Dickinson’s writings that she did have some hard feelings for her father and other men of authority, but still have a deep respect for the man. She pushed to be the ideal daughter for her father, but still held onto her independence and fought against the pressure that was being pressed on her.
Legacy
It is obvious if you take a deeper look into modern poetry and literature that Emily Dickinson has been an inspiration to many! This is true mostly due to her rhyming schemes and out of the ordinary writing style, but also because of how she affected the views of women and their place back in the 1800’s. According to The Brooklyn Museum in their article, “Emily Dickinson,” Dickinson was a very outspoken and emotional poet who was secretly, “defying the nineteenth-century expectation that women were to be demure and obedient to men. Her honest and uninhibited writing made her an early feminist voice, even as she maintained an outward appearance of submissiveness.” Instead of facing the issue head on and facing problems and backlash, she used her skills in writing to display messages to thousands of young women who now have their equality. This is all so much more saddening to hear though since Dickinson did not live to see her true effect on the world. In her lifetime, Dickinson only published 7 works of poetry herself. “After her death in 1886, her sister Lavinia uncovered almost a thousand of Dickinson’s poems bound with thread into numerous booklets… the poems were heavily edited, with regularized punctuation and capitalization, and published in three volumes Poems… by Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a literary critic who Dickinson previously sought advice from.” As the years went by however, people began touching up on the poetry to bring it back to a somewhat original stature. To this day, Dickinson’s style of writing and emotional connection that is established in her work have laid pathways for many writers to walk on and be inspired by. It is truly amazing what Dickinson stood for and how even in death she still continues to inspire many!
Conclusion
In conclusion, Emily Dickinson lived a life of solitude and emotion that was not fully realized till after her death. Even though she seemed to have a great beginning, the oppression from authority figures drove her into her house to be locked away. Her genius in the art of poetry, although it was not found till after her death, has affected millions and will continue having an impact for the longest of time. She was truly a unique specimen who used out of the ordinary ways to display messages and deliver her poems, and I believe it is her out of the ordinary lifestyle and writing that has played a part in her fame.
Works Cited:
Biography Emily Dickinson: 25 May 2019, www.biographyonline.net/poets/emily_dickinson.html.
“Emily Dickinson.” Brooklyn Museum: Emily Dickinson, www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/emily_dickinson.
