Emily Dickinson Research Paper

Research Paper about Emily Dickinson
More than seventeen hundred poems have been written by Emily Dickinson (Meltzer, 2006). Emily Dickinson is a poet known to be one of the greatest writers in the English language (Meltzer, 2006). She was a poet that showed a great variety of perspectives on many different topics. She should be included in the class material because she is a great poet that is shown through her life experiences, analyzing her three main themes of death, nature, and love which leads to examining her contributions to the world.
In order to understand some of the poems of Emily Dickinson it is an important to know her life. She was born on December 10, 1830 at Amherst, Massachusetts (Johnson, 2013). Her family was an economically
stable family which allowed her to go to private school at Amherst Academy (Meltzer, 2006). She later went to Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for about year but ended withdrawing because she went through a religious crisis (Johnson, 2013). Emily got a gift, Poems of Emerson, with she began her reading and learning about poetry (Meltzer, 2006). Then in the winter and spring of 1862, Dickinson wrote over 200 poems and some of which got published in the Springfield Republican (Meltzer, 2006). Some of Dickinson’s friend pushed and encouraged her to publish poems, but she only published some of them. Dickinson was quite isolated from society which many critics believe is the reason she wrote so many poems (Bloom, 1985). Many friends and family died during her life which made her wonder about the theme of death. Emily continued to write poems and some of her poems appeared in a book, A Masque of Poets (Meltzer, 2006). She later becomes bedridden with an illness and died in May 15, 1886 (Meltzer, 2006). Lavinia found Emily’s poems and got them published which became an immediate successes (Meltzer, 2006). Since Emily Dickinson had been exposed to many family members and friends dying during her lifetime, she wrote many poems about death and dying (Johnson, 2013). The ideology of death had shaped the imagination and the language of Emily (Johnson, 2013). I believe Emily Dickinson’s poems are very thought-provoking when she discusses death. In the poem 448, I believe the overall message of the poem was the whole idea of human life and its ideals, feelings and identity are erased by death (Bloom, 1985). As one critic said that many of Emily’s poems, they have no connections compared to other writers (Bloom, 1985). From many of her poems it seems that Emily shows that death is a way of freedom from this world (Johnson, 2013). Dickinson’s also explains through her poems that the dead are immortal through the memories in the living (Johnson, 2013). These types of messages and themes in Dickinson’s poetry have made her immortal and an important writer that everyone should know. The poem 598 “The Brain is wider than the Sky” is a great example of how the brain is compared to nature by Emily Dickinson.
This poem shows a complicated relationship between the mind and the external world (Ritzala, 2011). The brain has the ability to learn and it has the access to gain as much information as possible in the entire world. The brain may not grow physically but it is “constantly growing in the sense that we learn more and more each day” (Ritzala, 2011). An important quote in the poem was “The Brain is just the weight of God” (Baym, 104) from this comparison it seems that the “brain can gain information from God and utilize it in the same way that human sound to form syllables” (Ritzala, 2011). I believe this comparison and explanation truly show how amazing the work of Dickinson is. This poem shows how Dickinson interrupts and uses nature in her poems to add
perspective. Love is an important theme in some of Emily Dickinson’s poem.
“I cannot live with you” poem 706 is one of the greatest love poems that Emily Dickinson had written (Bloom, 1985). Even though Emily Dickinson is considered a Realism poet she shows some modernism in this poem. This poem is an “argument of the classical Shakespeare sonnets” which is an element of modernism literature (Bloom, 1985). This poem seems to be arguing against love therefore raising questions about the idea of love (Bloom, 1985). This poem also shows that Emily Dickinson was having a love affair and she was questioning the idea of love (Bloom, 1985). Some critics believe that this poem was a way of rejecting someone she had feeling for and trying to move on with her life (Bloom, 1985). The final world in the poem was “Despair” (Baym, 106). Since there was nothing to they can do about their love, the only thing left was the feeling of despair (Bloom, 1985). This type of literature shows the depth and importance of how great of a writer Emily Dickinson
is. I believe that Emily Dickinson is an important writer that all students in English 2328 should know because without her poems many other writers would not write poetry. Dickinson has a unique style of poetry which truly questions the mind. She was a poet that was able to discuss important aspects of life in her poetry such as love, nature, and death. Dickinson has a great way to connect with readers and explain many different lessons. Emily Dickinson is responsible for the change in world literature and without her poems the world would a different place (Bloom, 1985). Poetry was not a popular type of literature during her time but once people read her poems the idea of the poetry changes (Johnson, 2013). Dickinson’s poems have affected many generations and they will continue to affect the future. Her work can never be forgotten because it is immortal and powerful. This is why I truly believe that Emily Dickinson is a very important poet that all students of English 2328 should read about and understand. Works Cited for Emily Dickinson
Meltzer, M. (2006). Emily dickinson a biography. Minnesota: Twenty-First Century Books.
Johnson, C. (2013). Death and dying in the poetry of emily dickinson. Detriot: Greenhaven Press.
Bloom, H. (1985). Modern critical views emily dickinson. New York: Chelsea House Publishers.
Ritzala. (2011, December 31). An analysis of a work of emily dickinson. Retrieved from http://ritzala.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/an-analysis-of-a-work-of-emily-dickinson/
Baym, Nina. gen. ed. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 8th ed. Vol. C.
New York: Norton, 2012. Print.