Emily Dickinson and Charles Wright
Faith and spirituality can be explored in the poetry of the New England poet Emily Dickinson and the Southern poet Charles Wright. Dickinson seeks for inspiration in the Bible, while Charles Wright looks to Dickinson as a source of information, guidance and inspiration. Wright suggest that "[Dickinson 's] poetry [is] an electron microscope trained on the infinite and the idea of God
. Her poems are immense voyages into the unknowable."(Quarter) Charles Wright whose poetry captures a compilation of influences states that "There are three things, basically, that [he] writes about language, landscape, and the idea of God." Dickinson and Wright centered their poetry in their belief in God and both share the influence of the Bible.
Although, Emily Dickinson physically isolated herself from the world she managed to maintain friendships by communicating through correspondence. Ironically, Dickinson 's poetry was collected and published after her death. Dickinson explores life and death in most of her poems by questioning the existence of God. Dickinson applies common human experiences as images to illustrate the connection from the personal level of the human being, to a universal level of faith and God. This can be seen in Dickinson 's Poem (I, 45).
There 's something quieter than sleep
Within this inner room!
It wears a sprig upon its breast
And will not tell its name.
Some touch it, and some kiss it
Some chafe its idle hand
It has a simple gravity
I do not understand!
I would not weep if I were they
How rude in one to sob!
Might scare the quiet fairy
Back to her native wood!
While simple-hearted neighbors
Chat of the "Early dead"
Weprone to periphrasis
Remark that Birds have fled!
Dickinson employs vivid impressions of death in this poem. In the first line, she employs the analogy between sleep and death; sleep is silent but death lives within silence. She uses the word "it" to help identify something other than human. She declares
Although, Emily Dickinson physically isolated herself from the world she managed to maintain friendships by communicating through correspondence. Ironically, Dickinson 's poetry was collected and published after her death. Dickinson explores life and death in most of her poems by questioning the existence of God. Dickinson applies common human experiences as images to illustrate the connection from the personal level of the human being, to a universal level of faith and God. This can be seen in Dickinson 's Poem (I, 45).
There 's something quieter than sleep
Within this inner room!
It wears a sprig upon its breast
And will not tell its name.
Some touch it, and some kiss it
Some chafe its idle hand
It has a simple gravity
I do not understand!
I would not weep if I were they
How rude in one to sob!
Might scare the quiet fairy
Back to her native wood!
While simple-hearted neighbors
Chat of the "Early dead"
Weprone to periphrasis
Remark that Birds have fled!
Dickinson employs vivid impressions of death in this poem. In the first line, she employs the analogy between sleep and death; sleep is silent but death lives within silence. She uses the word "it" to help identify something other than human. She declares
Cited: The Holy Bible: King James Version, New York: American Bible Society, Gardner, Thomas, "Charles Wright 's Zone Journals and Emily Dickinson", Kenyon Review, Restructured and Restrung, Spring 2004, Vol.26 Issue 2, p 149, 26p Johnson, Thomas H. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Toronto: Little Brown and Company Wright, Charles, ---. Halflife: Improvisations and Interviews, Ann Arbor: University Michigan Press, 1988 ---. Quarter Notes: Improvisations and Interviews, Ann Arbor: University Michigan Press, 1995 ---. Zone Journals, Farrar Straus Giroux, NYC, 1988 ---. The Academy of American Poets, April 30, 2005