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    Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet who published only seven poems during her lifetime. Her poetry was not published in a complete volume until 1960. She was a forerunner of modernism who experimented with form and themes in her poetry. While she lived during the abolitionist movement and Civil War, she did not directly reference these social issues in her work. Her poetry reflected the religious struggles between Puritanism and Transcendentalism of her time. She differed from her contemporaries by writing in her own unique forms and styles rather than conforming to the strict poetic forms of the era. Her works are characterized by unique forms, themes of death, nature, religion and language, and

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    Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet who published only seven poems during her lifetime. Her poetry was not published in a complete volume until 1960. She was a forerunner of modernism who experimented with form and themes in her poetry. While she lived during the abolitionist movement and Civil War, she did not directly reference these social issues in her work. Her poetry reflected the religious struggles between Puritanism and Transcendentalism of her time. She differed from her contemporaries by writing in her own unique forms and styles rather than conforming to the strict poetic forms of the era. Her works are characterized by unique forms, themes of death, nature, religion and language, and

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    44 views1 page

    Dickinson

    Uploaded by

    vanjami
    Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet who published only seven poems during her lifetime. Her poetry was not published in a complete volume until 1960. She was a forerunner of modernism who experimented with form and themes in her poetry. While she lived during the abolitionist movement and Civil War, she did not directly reference these social issues in her work. Her poetry reflected the religious struggles between Puritanism and Transcendentalism of her time. She differed from her contemporaries by writing in her own unique forms and styles rather than conforming to the strict poetic forms of the era. Her works are characterized by unique forms, themes of death, nature, religion and language, and

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    Emily Dickinson

    1830-1886
    Why is she important?
    She’s a forerunner of modernism. Only seven poems
    were published during her lifetime with the complete
    volume of her works not published until 1960.
    How does she fit in with
    her time?
    • To a large extent, she seems to ignore the
    social issues around her in her work, as there
    is no mention of the abolitionist movement or
    the Civil War in her poetry.
    • Caught in a time between Puritanism
    (strictness is morality that verges on
    intolerance and that man is placed on earth for
    the purposes of obedience to God and glorifying Him. They believed in predestination,
    the absence of free will and the arbitrary division of humans into the elect and the
    damned) Transcendentalism (a rejection of the strict Puritan religious attitudes, faith in
    the worth of the individual and reliance on the goodness of nature. They saw a
    connection between the universe and the individual soul). There is religious struggle in
    her work, which may have mirrored the religious conflicts of her time
    How does she differ from her contemporaries?
    • She was a forerunner of modern poetry, refusing to write in the strict form of the poetry of
    her time;
    • She refused publication when her friend and literary critic Thomas Wentworth Higgins
    tried to get her to revise her work so that it better resembled the florid contemporary style
    What are the literary characteristics that
    define her work?
    • She employs the ballad form
    o Stanzas of four iambic lines, with the first and third line with four stresses and the
    second and fourth lines three stresses;
    o The rhyme scheme is XAXA instead of ABAB
    • She also uses the hymn form—a quatrain with three iambic feet
    • Language inspired by King James Bible and Shakespeare
    • Idiosyncratic form
    o Slant or off-rhymes and rhythms
    o Neologism, like “gianture” and “dimnuet” for conciseness
    o Dashes and capitalization for emphasis
    • Themes: death and immortality, nature, religion, humanity, the power and limits of
    language, intellectual doubt, struggle, and creativity.

    “Soul, Take Thy Risk,” by Joyce Nower:


    http://www.alsopreview.com/columns/intersections/jnemilydickinson.htm
    “Religious Influences on Emily Dickinson: Puritanism and Transcendentalism in Her Poetry,” by
    Jennifer Gage Edison: http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/edidwell.htm
    “Dashing Genius: Emily Dickinson and the Punctuation of Cognition,” Elizabeth Howell Brunner,
    http://members.tripod.com/~ElizBrunner/Scholar/DashOne.htm

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