Emily Dickinsons Life Experiences and Their Impact on Her Poetry
Throughout the history of literature, it has often been said that "the poet is the poetry" (Tate, Reactionary 9); that a poet's life and experiences greatly influence the style and the content of their writing, some more than others. Emily Dickinson is one of the most renowned poets of her time, recognized for the amount of genuine, emotional insight into life, death, and love she was able to show through her poetry. Many believe her lifestyle and solitude brought her to that point in her writing. During Emily Dickinson's life, she suffered many experiences that eventually sent her into seclusion, and those events, along with her reclusiveness, had a great impact on her poetry. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, the second daughter of Edward and Emily Dickinson. Her family was very prominent in the small town of Amherst, but Emily never enjoyed the popularity her family received and began to withdraw early from public life (Ravert 1). Her solitude began long before it was obvious and went much deeper than many noticed at the time. The relationships that existed between Emily and her family were distant and remote, especially the bonds with her parents (Zabel 251-55). Em
England. Ed. Joel Myerson. Detroit: Gale, 1978. 2 Feb. 2000. . Miller, Ruth. "Emily Dickinson." The American Renaissance in New The Dickinson family was extremely devout in the Christian Puritan faith and tradition. Emily's father was especially strict in his beliefs, but she refused to conform and never joined the church. Her faith was often shaken and her doubts of the Puritan conception of God tormented her. She could not convince her soul of their ideals, believing that "only direct experience leads to spiritual experience" (Miller 35). Dickinson was often more fervid in her expressions of love and nature than those of religion, for she saw the "austerities of the public God" (Zabel 253). She began to write poetry regarding the God of her own solitude, understanding that her real reverence was for Nature. According to Conrad Aiken, Nature "seemed to her a more manifest and more beautiful evidence of Divine Will than creeds and churches" (NCLC 21:35). Her views and feelings toward faith and God placed her further away from society and created even more distance in her personal relationships with her family and close friends (Ravert 1). ily's mother was never "emotionally accessible" (Ravert 1), therefore Emily was left without a mother figure in her life. Emily had a very strict, authoritative father, who provided her with an excellent education and many books and literature, but often censored her reading materials for subjects suitable to his own interests (Tate, Six 9-10). She felt her father would never accept the workings of her mind so she took herself away from him, refusing to let herself grow close to her family (Zabel 251-55). Status, Methods, and Problems of Criticism in the United States After the War. New York: Harper, 1937.
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Approximate Word count = 1737
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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