Emily Dickinson
To better understand the poetry of Emily Dickinson, it is important to understand her background and lifestyle. Emily Dickinson was raised in a traditional New England home in the mid 1800's. Her father, along with the rest of the family, had become Christians and she alone decided to rebel and reject the Church. 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, before the transcendental period was the center of religious practice. 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 now under speculation and often doubted. People began to search for new meanings in life. People like Emerson and Thoreau believed that answers lie in the individual. Emerson set the tone for the era by saying that if one is human, one must also be a non-conformist. Emily believed and practiced this philosophy. Like all the Dickinson children, male or female, Emily was sent for formal education in Amherst Academy. After attending Amherst Academy with conscientious thinkers such a
From all the jails the boys and girls The Carriage held but just Ourselves- s Helen Hunt Jackson, and after reading many of Emerson's essays, she began to develop into a free willed person. Many of her friends had converted to Christianity, her family was also putting enormous amount of pressure for her to convert. No longer the submissive youngster she would not bend her will on such issues as religion, literature and personal associations. 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, wais just the next logical step to life and compares it to a carriage ride, or many other commonplace happenings. They storm the earth and stun the air, Her love poems have a tendency to make people not want to fall in love. She writes of loving, parting, separation and loss. This is generally attributed to her unfulfilled love with both Charles Wadsworth and Otis P. Lord.
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Approximate Word count = 839
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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