‘Best Things dwell out of Sight’;(#998) describes one of America’s greatest poets. She dwelled out of sight for most of her life and her poems, with the exception of seven published anonymously, remained out of sight until well after her death. Many literary scholars have attempted a biography on this mysterious woman and poet and yet none are conclusive. Dickinson remains an enigma even today but biographical speculation allows us to analyze some of her poetry even though we may be completely inaccurate about what we presuppose. There are some facts about Emily Elizabeth Dickinson that we know for certain. She was born on December 10, 1830 and is recognized as one of America’s greatest poets. She had an older brother, William Austin Dickinson, born on April 16, 1829, and a younger sister, Lavinia Norcross Dickinson, born on February 28, 1833. She was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts, which was a small and tradition-bound town in the nineteenth century.
Emily’s father, Edward Dickinson, was a grand figure in Amherst. In his letters, he comes across as a remarkably ambitious man—’a typical success-oriented, work-oriented citizen of expansionist America,’; in Richard Sewall’s characterization. Educated at Amherst College and Yale, he soon became the leading lawyer in town. For thirty-seven years he was the treasurer of the college that his father helped establish in 1821. Besides this, Edward had accomplished much success in his life but biographers of Emily’s life believe that he paid for his public success through his emotional destitution. Emily’s father was a rigorous Calvinist and dominated the Dickinson family. His concept of life was rigid religious observance and obedience to God’s law as stated in the Bible. He prompted his children to read the Bible and attend church every Sunday. People who knew the Dickinsons referred to Edward as a ‘severe, latter-day Puritan, a power minded tyrant…’;(Sewall: 8).
The Essay on Emily Dickinson Individuality Life Death Nature
Emily Dickinson: Individuality Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830, to Edward Dickinson, a well-respected lawyer, and his wife Emily Norcross Dickinson, whom she was named after. She lived her whole life in the same house with her sister Lavina including after her parent s death in her middle years. Her parents had been very traditional, as most people were in ...
However it seems that as ignorant as critics made him sound, Edward was modern-minded enough to educate all his children. Edward Dickinson adamantly believed that women should be educated, and sent his daughters to prominent schools. Emily attended Amherst Academy where she graduated in 1847 and later attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for one year. Her parents withdrew her because of ill health but there is speculation that she returned home because she did not like the religious environment. After leaving school she returned home and spent the remainder of her life there. She took occasional trips but always returned home to her sanctuary and eventually stopped travelling and even leaving her house completely. She corresponded with her confidantes and friends through letters, rarely seeing them.
The men she corresponded with during her life include Benjamin Newton, a law student; Reverend Charles Wadsworth, a Philadelphia minister; Thomas Higginson, a literary critic and Civil War hero, and Otis Lord, a judge who had been her father’s closest friend. She regarded these men as intellectual advisers as well as friends. Although many of them found her poetry to be fascinating, none advised her to publish them. Dickinson wrote the majority of her poetry during the 1860’s at which time she had become increasingly reclusive. She began wearing only white dresses and she hardly left her home, let alone Amherst. Although she occasionally visited friends, by the time she was forty years of age, she refused invitations to leave home and spent the remainder of her life taking care of her parents until they died (her father died in 1847, her mother died in 1882).
Emily herself became bedridden during the last year of her life and her sister, Lavinia, nursed her until her death on May 15, 1886.
The Essay on Analyzing Emily Dickinsons Poems
... Critics believe that the two poems that I will elaborate ... the feel with the loss of someone important in their life. Stanza four begins with all the Heavens were a bell ... friends as a child and preferred to spend her time alone. As a recluse Emily Dickinson frequently stayed in her room and wrote poetry. ...
Although there is much biographical information about Dickinson, it seems that the key details are missing. What is the connection between the events in Dickinson’s life and her poems? The majority of her poems are about love, death, and religion. There are many explications of her biography through her poems but they are by no means factual. Critics also believe that she became obsessed with death at an early age when one of her dearest childhood friends, Sophia Holland, died in 1844. As an adult, Dickinson endured the pain of mourning for many dear friends and family members throughout her life. Dickinson’s poems are sometimes so obscure that it’s difficult to be certain of what she’s describing. When she uses the word ‘he’; she could be describing God, a lover, the cosmos, or even death.
For example, the poem ‘He fumbles at your Soul’;(#315) is ambiguous. We are never given an implication of what the poem is veering towards but then again that may be Dickinson’s intention. Nevertheless, Dickinson’s poetry is rich in rhetoric and creativity. Her poetry is just as mysterious as her life was and perhaps Dickinson wanted things to turn out the way they did. It seems that even her romantic life was just as ambiguous as her poetry. Many critics believe that Dickinson was in love with Susan Gilbert, her best friend who later became her brother’s wife. There are many poems that Dickinson wrote which biographers believe to be distinctly about Susan. After a four-year break, Dickinson began to write poetry once again in 1858 with three principle themes: death, nature and Susan, about whom she wrote about ten of approximately fifty poems written in this year.
With one exception, ‘One sister have I,’; the poems Dickinson wrote about her sister-in-law are sullen and perplexed. Critics believe that Dickinson was feeling empty after Susan’s marriage to Austin, as though she lost a lover. In 1858 she describes her heart as a coffin in ‘It did not surprise me’;(# 39): It did not surprise me— So I said—or thought— She will stir her pinions And the nest forgot, Traverse broader forests— Build in gayer boughs, Breathe in Ear more modern God’s old fashioned vows— This was but a Birdling— What and if it be One within my bosom Had departed me? This was but a story – What and if indeed There were just such a coffin In the heart instead? Paula Bennett believes that this is not an efficient poem but still helps establish how closely Dickinson’s feelings for Susan were fixed into the first stages of her poetic maturation. It seems that Dickinson connected the loss of Susan with the idea of death from the start. In ‘I never told the buried gold,’;(#11) which Dickinson sent to Susan, she creates an obscure comparison between her brother Austin and the pirate captain Kidd, implying that he abducted Susan. It seems that Austin is depicted as a pirate-sun who cowers over and hoards his prize. Dickinson hints that he neither won nor deserved the prize he acquired. Only the speaker appreciates the gold at its true value.
The Essay on Use Of Literary Devices In Emily Dickinson Poems
In everyday life, there is a constant struggle to create a sense of self within the mind of every person in this world. There is always a conflict present between the importance of self and the influence that others pose on this sense. When this sense is reached in life, there is still constant influence from others to alter this frame of mind. In many works of literature, this struggle can be ...
‘The sex and sexuality of the gold’;, Bennett states, ‘are presumably established in the poem’s third stanza. But the speaker does not dare reveal her knowledge because she is ‘too close’ to the ‘sun’.’;(Bennett; 51-2) He stood as near As stood you her— A pace had been between— And also because she fears his phallic might; Did but a snake bisect the brake My life had forfeit been. If Bennett’s theory is correct, ‘I never told the buried gold’; confirms that six years later this belief didn’t subside. It seems that despite the union of Susan and Austin, and in spite of Dickinson’s long period of depression and recluse, she was still in love with Susan and mortified by her loss. Even in 1862, Dickinson dealt with her feelings of having lost Susan indirectly through her poetry. The similarities between ‘The Malay—took the Pearl—’;(#452) and ‘I never told the buried gold’; are evident. In both poems, a treasure (a Pearl and gold) has been carried off by a man who cannot appreciate it and the speaker’s own anxieties and inhibitions keep her from getting involved as she stands by helplessly watching her rival carry away his prize.
Not being able to contend openly, she never lets on that she ‘wooed it—too.’;(Bennett: 53) Dickinson openly dedicated one poem, ‘Your Riches—taught me—Poverty’;(#299) to Susan. Bennett believes that this poem clearly attempts to ‘evoke the wealth and exotic beauty Dickinson believed Susan possessed.’;(Bennett: 53) I agree with this speculation because this poem echoes the treasures of the other two poems mentioned. In the seventh verse, ‘That there exists—a Gold—,’; and in the final verse, ‘And estimates the Pearl—.’; Both trea ….
The Essay on New Historicism Criticism Of Poem 1732 By Emily Dickinson
Literature can be used to explain a period of time, and give insights as to how the general public felt, conveying true emotions and ideals instead of just textbook descriptions. Poem 1732 by Emily Dickinson is an excellent example of such. Dickinson was a female writer who lived in America and wrote during the mid to late 1800 s, and her poem reflects the impact that both the Civil War and the ...
