Insights into the significance of belonging

Emily Dickinson demonstrates to the audience the significance of belonging as part of the human experience and profoundly explores the complex paradox between belonging and not belonging. Emily Dickinson lived much of her life as a recluse and made the choice to challenge the societal expectations of women in the 19th century. Hence, through her self-expressional poem 66, “This is My Letter To The World” and poem 88, “I Had Been Hungry All These Years”, Dickinson suggests that although mankind have a yearning desire to belong, it should not be at the sacrifice of one’s individuality.

The need to belong is the core of our experiences and is driven by our desire to belong. Dickinson’s poem 66, “This is My Letter To The World” deeply underlines the struggle of the persona to belong in her world. The use of a ‘letter’ as a metaphor and a communication device to the ‘world’ insinuates the persona’s intrinsic urge to belong yet also presenting a enigmatic problem where she strives to communicate her ideas while retaining a reclusive life. Dickinson uses high modality in the word ‘never’ to emphasise the degree of her rejection by society and creates a sense of exclusion to the audience as reflected by the negative connotation and bitter tone. The fact that the composer chooses the express her voice using the imagery of a one-sided ‘letter’ incorporated with the use of personal pronouns, ‘my’ and ‘me’ reinforces both from the persona’s point of view and our understanding of belonging just how significant belonging is as part of the human experience. The change in tone from bitter to consolatory depicted by the “simple news” suggests that whilst the persona is challenged and does not belong, ironically she celebrates and connects to a experience of belonging that transcends and encapsulates a much larger universal experience by nature. The use of an extended metaphor and symbolism, “to hands I cannot see” reinforces the concept of a universal group and manifests the