In her lifetime Emily Dickinson wrote over 1,775 poems, none of which were published while she was still alive Essay Example For Students

In her lifetime Emily Dickinson wrote over 1,775 poems, none of which were published while she was still alive Essay In her lifetime Emily Dickinson wrote over 1,775 poems, none of which were published while she was still alive. Dickinsons writing styles and formats reflected several movements of her era including the revival of Puritanism, feminism, Transcendentalism, and Romanticism. These movements influenced the lifestyle and writing of Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson has shaped much of feminist criticism. Throughout the growth of feminist criticism Dickinson is still the focal point. Dickinsons poetry also shows evidence of a feminist humor. Feminist studies of Dickinson include her relationships as well as alleged relationships in regards to her sexuality, her humor in a satirical sense when looking at the women of her time, as well as even challenging the idea of Dickinson as an eccentric recluse. Even with humor evident in her poetry feminists do not debate the fact that elements of tragedy also influence her poetry. Elements of tragedy seen in Dickinsons poetry, especially of death and the emphasis of human mortality, are derivative from another movement of her time. American Romanticism included themes of nature as well as death mortality in what is referred to as Dark Romanticism. Dickinsons Puritan heritage was another influence that affected her lifestyle from an early age. Dickinson uses such devices as sacramental imagery from her childhood religion. Dickinson was born into a prominent and staunchly religious family and rebelled against her upbringing in religion and social prominence in her later years. Her reclusiveness as well as her apparent Transcendentalist views was a result of Dickinson and her fathers differing opinions about life, mankind, and the world they lived in. Some critics believe that in rebellion against her staunch Puritan heritage and upbringing Emily Dickinson became more of a transcendentalist. Many ties have been made between romanticism and transcendentalism and many of Dickinsons contemporaries fit into both categories. Possibly the greatest indication that Dickinson had inclinations from transcendentalism was the amount of text in which nature takes a central role. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts to a prosperous and well known family wikipedia. Dickinsons grandfather was one of the founders of Amherst College, and her father, Edward Dickinson, was a prominent lawyer as well as treasurer for the college wikipedia. Dickinsons father also served on the Massachusetts General Court, Massachusetts Senate, and the US House of Representatives wikipedia. Dickinsons mother, Emily Norcross Dickinson, was a shy and quiet woman who was chronically ill. Dickinson had one brother and one sister: William Austin Dickinson and Lavinia Norcross Dickinson wikipedia. Dickinson grew up in her familys Amherst home, and attended the nearby Amherst Academy until the age of seventeen, when she transferred to Mount Holyoke Female Seminary wikipedia. After less than a year of attending the seminary, Dickinson took ill and her brother William, more commonly known as Austin, was sent to bring her home. Aside from a few trips to Boston and various other locations after coming home from the seminary, Dickinson spent her entire life living in her fathers house. She dressed only in white and developed the reputation of being anti-social and an agoraphobic recluse wikipedia Myers. Dickinsons experience at the seminary may well have fueled the fire of her independence and been one of the contributing factors for her decision to stop attending church, and retain her reclusive and anti social reputation. Dickinson never married, and her relationships and alleged relationships are still studied and debated. Dickinsonquot;s emotional life remains mysterious, despite much speculation about a possible disappointed love affair. Two candidates have been presented: Reverend Charles Wadsworth, with whom she corresponded, and Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican, to whom she addressed many poems Books and Writings 1. Some critics are challenging her sexuality and believe that there was more to her intimate relationship with friend and sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert than meets the eye. Her relationships and sexuality have become very controversial amongst biographers and critics alike. Dickinson lived most of her life alone in her house, reclusive and anti social. Emily Dickinson died on May 15, 1886 of Brights disease. Although regarded as one of the most prominent 19th century poets, Dickinson did not publish any of her works in her lifetime. After Dickinsonquot;s death her poems were brought out by her sister Lavinia, who co-edited three volumes from 1891 to 1896 Books and Writings 2. Despite arguments and critics, Emily Dickinson is still a widely read poet. Although interest in one or more lovers continues, as does attention to the poetquot;s religious quest and to her quiet subversion of gender assumptions, Emily Dickinsonquot;s poems steadily gain recognition as works of art, both individually and collectively, especially when read in her original fascicle groupings, which establish not just her unquestionable brilliance but her frequently underestimated artistic control Modern American Poetry 2. Emily Dickinson was one of the greatest American women poets of all time. As much as feminist studies of her have changed and shaped our understanding of her life and poetry Dickinsons impact has been no less important on the development of feminist criticism. Emily Dickinson has been the center of feminist criticism in all the stages of its development. As feminist criticism has grown and matured Emily Dickinson has remained the focal point Handbook 342. Some feminist critics have even challenged the popular notion of Dickinson as reclusive, eccentric figure. They have underlined her intellectual struggle and passive aggressiveness. They claim Dickinsons verse is full of allusions to volcanoes, shipwrecks, funerals, and other manifestations of natural and human violence, which she hide into her writings Books and Writings. Although some view Dickinson as morbid and morose, some of her poetry does present more than just her views about death. As feminist criticism has grown in its field the conceptions of Emily Dickinson have grown as well, changing throughout the decades from her place in a literary world dominated by men, to linguistic and psychoanalytic approaches to her poetry and life, and concluding in the 1990s with explorations of her lesbian identity and her relationship with Susan Gilbert Handbook 342. Dickinson encouraged the move of feminist criticism from narrative explanations of women writers into stylistic analyses of their work Handbook 342. Through the changing opinions and conceptions of Emily Dickinson throughout the development of feminist criticism one common dividing line has remained between the critics that wish to classify Dickinson as a nineteenth century poet and those who wish to classify her as a modernist poet. Dickinsons traits and characteristics allow her to escape all efforts to contain her to one particular genre or another. Adrienne Richs reading of Emily Dickinson and her later published essay point out that Emily Dickinson seems to regard herself as an imperious energy and her poetic creation as a form of aggression. Rich transfigured understanding of Dickinson and of poetic power in women. Rich also focused attention on the enraged Dickinson of the first feminist conceptions, and turned attention to the little read poem My Life had stood- a Loaded Gun which was to become the centerpiece of the feminist criticism of Dickinson. TennesseeWilliams of his work EssayDickinsonquot;s poetry is closely related to other American Romantics influenced by Puritanism Edison 1. One aspect of spiritual representation in the poetquot;s work that has somehow escaped critical attention is Dickinsons use of sacramental imagery. Throughout her poetry, Dickinson again and again comes back to images of the Christian sacraments in a quest for spiritual truth Klein 1. For Calvinists two sacraments, baptism and communion, symbolize Godquot;s promises to his fellowship of believers, and initiate a meaningful spiritual life Klein 1. When Dickinson finds the sacraments of the formal church empty and distant from her own experience, she moves away from these constraints in poetryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Dickinson begins with the tools of Calvinism, such as the raw materials of the language, and is imaginatively challenged by the idea of sacrament, but denies tradition by converting doctrine into her own vision Klein 1. Religion is also evi dent in the style of Dickinsons poetry. The style of her first efforts was fairly conventional, but after years of practice she began to give room for experiments. Often written in the meter of hymns, her poems dealt not only with issues of death, faith and immortality, but with nature, domesticity, and the power and limits of language Books and Writers 2. It is legitimate to suggest that Dickinson, although she excluded much of her life from the church, recognized the importance of spiritual experience and connection to the God Klein 2. Aside from the obvious thematic of her work, the poetquot;s correspondence documents these values. Not only was Dickinson raised in an intensely religious atmosphere, but she maintained that presence in her own life and work. It was forever a monumental concern Klein 2. Transcendentalism was a philosophic and literary movement that flourished in New England as a reaction against 18th century rationalism, the skeptical philosophy of Locke, and the confining religious orthodoxy of New England Calvinism Brown 1. Transcendentalism was transforming traditional religion and thus became another influence in Dickinsons poetry Brown 1. Emily Dickinson embraced Transcendentalism because it allowed her to leave her Puritan heritage behind her and express her views and opinions of the worlds and put them into writing Brown 1. Transcendentalism involved a rejection of the strict Puritan religious attitudes that were the heritage of New England, where the movement originated Edison 1. Transcendentalists were influenced by romanticism, especially such aspects as self-examination, the celebration of individualism, and the integral relation between nature and mankind Edison 1. As a result of the realization of her differing views, Emily Dickinson embraced Transcendentalism. The Transcendentalist movement began flourishing in the early 19th century America, especially in New England, was based on some of the concepts of Transcendental Philosophy. In America transcendentalism was mostly used in a literary form having a semi religious nature Transcendentalism 1. Transcendentalist saw a connection between the universe and the individual soul. Transcendentalists believed the soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world, and latently contains all that the world contains Transcendentalism 1. Transcendentalism allowed Emily Dickinson to materialize from her Puritan heritage. It allowed her to discover her self-worth by realizing that what she felt in her heart was significant of recognition Edison 1. Dickinson used Transcendentalism to help her to discover and confide her feelings in word and in the reader through verse Edison 1. Transcendentalism was a natural outgrowth both of a literary time when visionary ideas were powerfully set abroad and of personal, exuberant discovery of self in poetry Edison 1. As Transcendentalism was beginning to emerge, so was Emily Dickinsonquot;s soul Edison 1. Possibly the greatest indication that Dickinson had inclinations from transcendentalism was the amount of text in which nature takes a central role. Dickinson also seems to express a great admiration for natural things that might lead one to accept that she is seeing somewhat of an over soul in nature Emily Dickinson 3. While it is hard in many of her poems to grasp what exactly she is thinking in regard to religion, it also seems clear that she is not an atheist Emily Dickinson 4. Emily Dickinson wrote numerous poems that could be interpreted as having transcendental sympathies. The strong conflict of Puritanism and Transcendentalism in Emily Dickinsonquot;s poetry is what allowed her to become one of the greatest and most influential American poets of the nineteenth century Brown 1. Her obsession with life, death, and mortality could be derived /p Dickinsonquot;s love of nature expressed itself early as an appreciation of plants and animals in her own spacious garden, which she tended avidly throughout her life Hermitary 1. For most Romantics, however transcendental, nature served as an intermediary between man and God Bloom 50. Dickinson included nature in many of her works, emphasizing her romantic style of writing. To the Romantics Nature was precious because it was an earthly and material medium through which God could touch man and man could touch God Bloom 50. Romanticism represents a rebellion against Enlightenment thinking. It replaces a faith in reason with feeling as the stronger expression of what we are. It is restless with practical reality and prefers visionary longing and excitement to the complacency of everyday reality Intellectual Heritage 1. Romantics also emphasized the importance of individuality, uniqueness, and even the eccentric. The poetry of Emily Dickinson is one examples of American Romantic literature. Emily Dickinsons reclusive and anti social nature could be considered a sign of her uniqueness or an eccentric attitude that was emphasized by the Romantics. Dark Romanticism places its emphasis on the tragic dimension of life. Dickinson is often thought of as a tragic figure, and some of her poems about death fit the description of dark romanticism. Dark Romanticism also shows awe at human nature, struggle, suffering, mortality and mans relationship with God Loflin 1. Mystery and the reality of evil are also key themes seen in Dark Romanticism Loflin 1. Dickinsons poems seek to complete a voyage and prove the strength of the imagination against the stubbornness of life, the repression of an antithetical nature, and the final territory of death. Emily Dickinson was affected by various movements of her time as well as influencing and guiding the futures of some of those movements. Her poetry reflects ideas from feminism, Puritanism, transcendentalism, and romanticism. Her own uneasiness about her own religious ideas, decisions and the lack of stability in her faith life may have been reasons for her focus on life and death. Her humor is demonstrated in some of her shorter poems, such as Faith Is a Fine Intervention, is still being examined especially by feminist critics. Dickinsons poetry shows elements of several different movements and ideas of her time. They contain elements of feminist humor, emphasize her inner conflict between religions especially her childhood religion of Protestantism and the new movement of Transcendentalism and her focus on nature also brings in elements of Romanticism.