Death, Nature, And Love In The Writings Of Emily Dickinson Essay, Research Paper

Not one of Emily Elizabeth Dickinson s readers has met the woman who lived and died in Amherst, Massachusetts more than a century ago, yet most of those same readers who have come to understand her through her work feel as if they know her closely. However it was her reclusive life that made understanding her quite difficult. However, taking a close look at her verses, one can learn a great deal about this remarkable woman. The poetry of Emily Dickinson dives deep into her mind, exploring and exposing her personal experiences and their influence on her thoughts about religion, love, and death. By examining her life some, and reading her poetry in a certain light, one can see an obvious autobiographical connection. As America s best-known female poet and one of the foremost authors in American literature, Dickinson is simply constructed yet intensely felt as her acutely intellectual writings take subject issues substantially into humanity, and exposing the agonies and ecstasies of love, sexuality, the horrors of war, God and religious belief, the importance of humor, and the unfathomable nature of death.

Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Dickinson was the middle child of a prominent politician, lawyer, and one-term United States congressional representative, Edward Dickinson, and his wife, Emily Norcross Dickinson (whom she was named after). In short, Dickinson attended the Amherst Academy from 1840 to 1847, and from 1847 to 1848 she studied at the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College) in South Hadley, a few miles from Amherst. With the exception of a trip to Washington, D.C., in the late 1850s and a few trips to Boston for eye treatments in the early 1860s, Dickinson remained in Amherst, living in the same house on Main Street from 1855 until her death. Now if only it was that simple. However, it is through the long version that one will truly learn about the life of Emily Dickinson.

Throughout her childhood Emily Dickinson was known for her shyness and was viewed relatively different from the others. Emily was quiet and did not benefit from the busy and popular social life in Amherst nor did she care for it. As a child growing up in a Christian center like Amherst, Emily was expected to take up the religion of her father willingly and without any disagreements. However, Emily did not fit in to the busy community as easily as did the other children. She argued and disagreed with her father about his religious beliefs and as a result he censored her from reading adult-level books and limited her to specific books. Emily was sent for formal education at Amherst Academy for seven years. After having attending Amherst Academy with such consciencious thinkers as Helen Hunt Jackson and significant others, and after reading many of Emerson’s essays, she began to develop into a free-willed person facing several changes throughout her adolescence. Many of her friends had converted to Christianity and her family had been putting enormous amounts of pressure for her to convert. But no longer the submissive youngster she was, Dickinson would not bend her will on such issues as religion, literature and personal associations.

She like many of her contemporaries had rejected the traditional views in life and adopted the new transcendental outlook. Massachusetts, the state where Emily was born and raised in, before the transcendental period, was the epicenter of religious practice. Founded by the puritans, the feeling of the avenging had never left the people. After all of the “Great Awakenings” and religious revivals, the people of New England began to question the old ways. What used to be the focal point of all lives was then under speculation and often doubted. People began to search for new meanings in life. People such as Emerson and Thoreau believed that answers lie in the individual. Emerson set the tone for the era when he said, “Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist.” Emily Dickinson believed and practiced this philosophy. Scholars believe that she chose to think and write in her own society rather than in the narrow-minded literary establishment of her time. This establishment expected female writers to confine themselves to domestic subjects and sentimental observations. Furthermore, an unmarried professional woman in America had few opportunities in the 1800’s. Therefore, Dickinson chose to remain in her comfortable, upper-middle-class home. Although her choice no longer seems so strange, people in her town viewed her as a curiosity and finally resented her unavailability. In turn, Dickinson’s seclusion from society has fascinated her readers.

Emily DIckinson enjoyed spending time at home in her garden. She was a reclusive person, with an emotional, passionate, intense life, filled with her genius for writing poetry. Although criticized for her unconventional style of writing, including her rough rhythm and imperfect grammar and rhymes, she continued to write in her own unique way. Emily Dickinson’s life and the time in which she lived greatly impacted the poetry she wrote. Many people influenced her, and with her poetic genius, she influenced many people, especially writers in later years. SHe was not a well-recognized poet in her time, but soon after her death her poems were collected and published so that people everywhere could read, share, and respect the knowledge and passion she possessed, and displayed in her work.

Many aspects of her life, such as her relationships with various people, remain a mystery and are not well known. She was deeply affected by her relationships with certain people, specifically men. Within her family was her father and brother, who played important roles throughout her entire life as well as major influences in her writings. Dickinson also had other relationships with men that affected her life dramatically. In addition them, and a very large influence and source of inspiration for her was the Reverend Charles Wadsworth. She met Reverend Wadsworth in Philadelphia towards the 1850’s. The relationship between them was a rather mysterious one. He was married and had a family, however, she maintained a correspondence with Rev. Charles Wadsworth over a substantial period of time and it is given that he was her dearest earthly friend. Even though she rejected the Church as a entity she never did reject or accept God. Wadsworth appealed to her because he was romantic and had an incredibly powerful mind as well as deep emotions. When he left the East in 1861 for San Francisco, Emily was scarred and expressed her deepest sorrow. They were never romantically involved but their relationship was apparently so profound that Emily’s sealed herself from the outside world. She felt that she had no one left to talk and it is said that this is what led her into seclusion. In that very year, Emily Dickinson wrote an astounding three hundred and sixty six poems. Many of Dickinson s critics believe that Wadsworth was the focal point of Emily s love poems. Another one of her profound relationships was with poetry critic, Thomas Wentworth Higginson. She had contacted him by mail in 1862, enclosing a few poems. He responded with suggestions on her writing style, but Dickinson chose to ignore his suggestions. Dickinson and Higginson corresponded for the following twenty years as he held the title of Emily s “preceptor” for the remainder of her life. It was after that letter that Emily decided to rule out the publishing of her poems. Dickinson wrote over 1,700 poems, but scholars generally agree she did not wish to publish any of them. But it is known that at least 10 of her poems appeared in print during her lifetime without her permission.

Throughout her poerty, she expressed the themes of love, beauty, nature, immortality, and death. She typically portrayed death as a monarch, leader, lord, or lover. Her moods changed and varied of utter despair to extreme ecstasy. These moods were shown in almost all her poems. When discussing these themes she followed her lifestyle and broke away from traditional forms of writing and wrote with an intense energy and complexity never seen before and rarely seen today. She was a rarity not only because of her poetry but because she was one of the first female pioneers into the field of poetry. Emily regularly speaks of love in her poems, but she did it in such a way that would make people not want to fall in love. She writes of parting, separation, and loss. This is supported by the experiences she felt with Wadsworth and Otis P. Lord.

Dickinson always wrote as what she called the “supposed person.” This person never tired of examining the unique facts of existence. Hidden away on the second story of her parents’ home, she analyzed practically every aspect of nature in poems that she began to bind into small books that were called fascicles. Emily Dickinson wrote a highly idiosyncratic poetry on the joy and pain of existence. Her poetry is compressed, sharp, but sometimes ambiguous. Emily Dickinson was influenced by the writings of American author Ralph Waldo Emerson. In her verses, Dickinson expressed Emerson’s late pessimism. Like fellow transcendentalist, Thoreau, Emily believed that people need to understand nature before they could begin to comprehend humanity because humanity was just a part of nature. Unlike many other she felt that nature was beautiful and must be understood. Many of her poems reflect the alienation of American intellectuals after the Civil War (1861-1865). At about the age of 30, Dickinson began to look intensely at life itself, rather than looking for the normal expectations of life and while the Civil War raged, she produced the most and best of her poems.

The mere experience of being alive dominates Dickinson’s poetry. Her poems show how Dickinson was sensitive to both the ecstasy and the anguish of everyday experience. Emily Dickinson wrote a highly idiosyncratic poetry on the joy and pain of existence. Her poetry is compressed, sharp, but sometimes ambiguous. She is exciting because she combines passion with intellectual wit. The “lover” in many of her poems is not a potential husband and “master” but death and eternity. In what many critics believe is her greatest poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” a carriage that brings her gentleman caller holds “but just Ourselves/And Immortality.” The point of view of most of her poems reinforces her theme that our most important moments are over as soon as they begin. Dickinson’s “I Heard a Fly Buzz” reflects this theme, describing with beauty and simplicity a dying person’s impressions at the moment of death. Often her poems open with a clear story line, but quickly fade at their close into silence, as if to suggest her inquiry continues in the subconscious. As she wrote in another poem, it was the poet’s job to distill “amazing sense/from ordinary meaning.”

Individuality played a pervasive role in her life as a result of her bout with separation. Emily did not conform to society. She did not believe it was society’s place to dictate to her how she should lead her life. Her poems reflect this sense of rebellion and revolution against tradition. Emily also went against the Church which was an extreme rarity of the time. Similar to many other that shared her beliefs she too did not think that a set religion was the way for salvation. Once again, to Emily the most important things in life were religion, individuality, nature and death. She may not have believed in God but He did have a profound impact throughout her childhood. Emily and Emerson alike felt the most important thing was to maintain ones individuality as she did. She was fascinated by both nature and death and she attempted to explain both in her writings.

Emily also saw the frightful part of nature, death, as an extension of the natural order. Probably the most prominent theme in her writing is death. She took death in a relatively casual way when compared to the puritan beliefs that surrounded her life. Death to her is just the next logical step to life and compares it to a carriage ride in Because I Could Not Stop For Death , or many other common place happenings. Life according to Emily is brief and the people living out their lives have little control. However non-religious she may appear and however insignificant she believes life to be, she does show some signs in accepting life after death. Throughout Emily Dickinson’s poetry one also comes to know the impact of “the word”. She followed her lifestyle and broke away from traditional forms of writing and wrote with an intense energy and complexity never seen before and rarely seen today. She was a rarity not only because of her poetry but because she was one of the first female pioneers into the field of poetry. One of the most fascinating things about Dickinson’s poetry is her overwhelming attention to detail, especially her “pin-point” insights on death.

“I’ve Seen a Dying Eye,” by Emily Dickinson, is a poem about the nature of death. A sense of uncertainty and uncontrollability about death seems to exist. The observer’s speech seems hesitant and unsure of what he or she is seeing, partly because of the dashes, but also because of the words used to describe the scene. As the eye is observed looking for something, then becoming cloudy and progressing through more obscurity until it finally comes to rest, the person observing the death cannot provide any definite proof that what the dying person saw was hopeful or disturbing. The dying person seems to have no control over the clouds covering his or her eye, which is frantically searching for something that it can only hope to find before the clouds totally, consume it. Death, as an uncontrollable force, seems to sweep over the dying. More importantly, as the poem is from the point of view of the observer, whether the dying person saw anything or not is as significant as what the observer, and the reader, carry away from the poem. The suspicion of whether the dying person saw anything or had any control over his or her death is what is being played on in the poem. The main idea the poem is trying to convey is that death force itself upon the dying leaving them no control, and if something hopeful exists to be seen after death, it is a question left for the living to ponder.

Love is another prevalent theme in Dickinson’s poetry. “The Love of Thee-a Prism Be: Men and Women in the Love Poetry of Emily Dickinson,” an essay by Adalaide Morris, a feminist critic, examines how Dickinson views love with an allegorical neatness created in her poem “The Love of Thee-a Prism Be” . Emily Dickinson believes that it is the prismatic quality of passion that matters, and the “energy passing through an experience of love reveals a spectrum of possibilities” . In keeping with her tradition of looking at the “circumference” of an idea, Dickinson never actually defines a conclusive love or lover at the end of her love poetry, instead concentrating on passion as a whole . Although she never defined a lover in her poems, many critics do believe that the object or focal point of her passion was Charles Wadsworth, a clergyman from Philadelphia In her poetry, Emily represents the males as the Lover, Father, King, Lord, and Master while the women take complimentary positions to their male superiors, and many times the relationship between the sexes is seen in metaphor-women as “His Little Spaniel” or his hunting gun. The woman’s existence is only contingent to the encircling power of the man . It could be noted that the relationship with her father created some of the associations that Dickinson used in her work-her father being involved in government, religion, and in control of the family. Dickinson’s linked imagery in her male love poetry focuses on suns, storms, volcanoes, and wounds . There are always elements of disturbance or extremes and explosive settings. There are also repeated examples of the repression of love causing storm imagery to become “silent, suppressed” volcanic activity-something on the verge of explosion or activity. Of course, in the repressed individual the potential for explosion or action can be very dangerous, and frequently in Dickinson’s work this kind of love relationship ends of with someone receiving a wound . Another underlying theme in Dickinson’s poetry was nature. The Imagery of Emily Dickinson, by Ruth Flanders McNaughton, in a chapter entitled “Imagery of Nature,” examines the way the Emily Dickinson portrays nature in her poetry. Dickinson often identified nature with heaven or God , which could have been the result of her unique relationship with God and the universe. Dickinson always held nature in reverence throughout her poetry, because she regarded nature as almost religious. There was almost always a mystical or religious undercurrent to her poetry, but she depicted the scenes from an artistic point of view rather than from a religious one . Dickinson also saw nature as a true friend most likely because of her time spent alone with it. She describes nature as a show to which she has gained admission. Dickinson saw friendship and entertainment in the world of trees, bees, and anthills.

Emily followed her lifestyle and broke away from traditional forms of writing and wrote with an intense energy and complexity that had never been seen before and is rarely seen today. She was a rarity not only because of her poetry but because she was one of the first female pioneers into the field of poetry. Emily often speaks of love in her poems, but she did it in such a way that would make people not want to fall in love. She writes of parting, separation, and loss. This is supported by the experiences she felt with Wadsworth and Otis P. Lord: Not with a club the heart is broken, Nor with a stone; A whip so small you could not see it, I ve known . This seems to be an actual account of the emotions she experienced during her relationship with Otis Lord. Individuality played a pervasive role in her life as a result of her bout with separation. Emily did not conform to society. She did not believe it was society s place to dictate to her how she should lead her life. Her poems reflect this sense of rebellion and revolution against tradition. From all the jails the boys and girls Ecstatically leap, Beloved, only afternoon That prison doesn t keep .

In this poem Emily shows her feelings towards formalized schooling. Being a product of reputable college one would think that she would be in favor of this. But as her beliefs in transcendentalism grew as did her belief in individuality. She grew to adopt the Emersonian concepts and lead a daily life by them.

Emily also went against the Church, which was an extreme rarity of the time. Similar to many others that shared her beliefs, she too did not think that a set religion was the way for salvation. Everyone should experience things for themselves. Some keep the Sabbath going to Church; I keep it, staying at Home, With a Bobolink for a Chorister, And an Orchard, for a Dome . According to this poem Emily clearly states that nature is her source of guidance and she has little need for the Church as an institution. Like Thoreau, Emily believed that people needed to understand nature before they could begin to comprehend humanity because humanity was just a part of nature. Unlike many others, she felt that nature was beautiful and must be understood. Has it feet like water-lilies? Has it feathers like a bird? Is it brought from famous countries, Of which I have never heard? (Will there really be a morning?) Further on in the poem she goes on to ask if the scholar or some wise man from the skies knows where to find morning. It can be inferred that morning, something so common place and taken for granted, cannot be grasped by even the greatest so-called minds. Emily also saw the frightful part of nature. Death was an extension of the natural order. Probably the most prominent theme in her writing is death. She took death in a relatively casual way when compared to the puritan beliefs that surrounded her life. Death to her was just the next logical step of life and compares it to a carriage ride that travels through many other common place happenings. Because I could not stop for Death- He kindly stopped for me- The Carriage held but just Ourselves- And Immortality.

HER POETRY: IN DEPTH.

Emily Dickinson s “Because I could not stop for Death” is a remarkable masterpiece that exercises thought between the known and the unknown. Critics call Emily Dickinson s poem a masterpiece with strange “haunting power.” In Dickinson s poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” there is much impression in the tone, in symbols, and in the use of imagery that exudes creativity. One might undoubtedly agree to an eerie, haunting, if not frightening, tone in Dickinson s poem. Dickinson uses controlling words “slowly” and “passed” to create a tone that seems rather placid. For example, “We slowly drove He knew no haste / We passed the School / We passed the Setting Sun ,” sets a slow, quiet, calm, and dreamy atmosphere. The tone in Dickinson s poem will put its readers ideas on a unifying track heading towards a boggling atmosphere.

Dickinson s masterpiece lives on complex ideas that are evoked through symbols, which carry her readers through her poem. Besides the literal significance of the “School,” “Gazing Grain,” “Setting Sun,” and the “Ring” much is gathered to complete the poem s central idea. Emily brought to light the mysteriousness of life s cycle. Ungraspable to many, the cycle of one s life, as symbolized by Dickinson, has three stages and then a final stage of eternity. These three stages are the “School, where children strove” which may represent childhood; the “Fields of Gazing Grain”, sybolizing maturity; and the “Setting Sun, representing old age”. In addition to these three stages, it was the final stage of eternity that was symbolized in the last two lines of the poem the “Horses Heads”, leading towards Eternity .

Emily Dickinson dresses the scene such that mental pictures of sight, feeling, and sound come to life. The imagery begins the moment Dickinson invites Her reader into the Carriage. Death “slowly” takes the readers on a sight seeing trip where they see the stages of life. The first site We passed was the “School, where Children strove”. Because it deals with an important symbol, the Ring this first scene is perhaps the most important. At recess, the children performed a venerable ritual, perhaps known to all Ring-Around-The-Roses. On this invited journey, one vividly sees the “Children” playing, laughing, and singing. This scene conveys deep emotions and moods through verbal pictures. The imagery in the final scene, “We passed the Setting Sun,” proved very emotional. One can clearly picture a warm setting sun, perhaps, over a grassy horizon. When Dickinson passed the “Setting Sun,” night drew high and it was time to go home and sleep. Symbolically, her tour of life was short; it was now time for “Eternity” death. While sight seeing in the carriage, one can gather, by the setting of the sun, that this ride was lifelong. It is evident that death can creep up on his client. Often times, when one experience a joyous time, time seems to fly . In the same respect, Emily Dickinson states “Or rather He [the Setting Sun] passed Us “. In this line, one can see how Dickinson, dressed for the “Day,” indicates that a pleasant time was cut short. Before She knew it, the cold “Dews drew quivering and chill”. The imagery in this transcendent poem shines great light on some hidden similarities between life and death.

This poem exercises both the thoughts and emotions of its reader and can effectively change one s viewpoint of an eternal future. Eternity and Death are two important characters in Emily Dickinson s “Because I could not stop for Death.” In fact, eternity is a state of being, and Dickinson believed in an eternity after death. Agreeably, one can say that Emily Dickinson s sole purpose in this poem is to show no fear of death. Emily Dickinson s poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” will leave many readers talking for years to come. This poem then, puts on immortality through an act of mere creativity. Indeed, creativity was captured at all angles in this striking piece.

Life according to Emily is brief and the people living out their lives have little control. In this short life/That only lasts an hour,/How much, how little,/Is within our power! However non-religious she may appear and however insignificant she believes life to be, she does however show some signs in accepting life after death. This world is not Conclusion; A Species stands beyond, Invisible, as Music, But positive as Sound. To Emily the most important things in her life were religion, individuality, nature, and death. She may not have believed in God but He did have a profound impact throughout her childhood. Dickinson felt the most important thing was to maintain ones individuality as she did. Be true to yourself and never imitate the beliefs of anyone else. She was fascinated by both nature and death and attempted to explain both in her writings.