Emily Dickinson (1830—1886)

1. Emily Dickinson (1830—1886)

2. Religions Views Calvinism with its doctrine of predestination and its pessimistic ideas about life and man’s original sin haunted her during her childhood and adolescence. Because of the Calvinist influence, her view of life is pessimistic and her tone in the poems sounds tragic. In her poetry, we can strongly sense the doubts about the existence of God and the realization of after-life. She was so obsessed with this religious uncertainty that about one third of her poems are about death and immortality, themes that lie at the center of her poetic world.

3. Ideas on Love • Love is another subject Dickinson showed great interest in. She herself had lived a lonely life of a spinster. She had once or twice fallen in love with someone. But each time she was frustrated. Some of her love poems reflect the unhappy experiences of hers, such as I never lost as much but twice. There are also poems about the longing of physical love. But these poems are mostly written in an allegorical way, with rich images and symbols to imply the sexual desire.

4. Ideas on Nature • Dickinson was also a nature poet. To her, nature is both simple and harmonious. She writes about nature to reveal its simplicity and profundity on one hand, and tries to establish a connection between nature and man on the other, like the transcendentalists. It is hard to conclude that she has achieved this goal, but apparently her poems are full of insights into nature and human life.

5. Ideas on Poetry Writing • Emily Dickinson seemed to consider poetry writing as a private thing. When she was in her early twenties, she began to write Poetry. Sometimes she would send her poems with letters to her friends. But she never approved of publishing her poems，for she thought，“Publication is the auction of the mind of man.” So she kept her poems to herself throughout the life. She did not regard herself as a poet. But in her opinion, a poet’s reponsibility is to us concrete images to present babstract ideas. Her poems are terse and suggestive. They are just the realization of her ideas on poetry writing.

6. The Key Features of Dickinson’s Poems telling images, suggestive and connotative, sometimes incomprehensible 2. a severe economy of expression 3. direct and plain words (Anglo-Saxon origin), simple syntax 4. faulty grammar 5. no regular rhythm, at most off or slant rhymes 6. meters common to Protestant hymn books 7. unusual capitalization 8. unusual use of punctuation marks

7. The Possible Themes of Dickinson’s Poems 1. Death and Immortality No. 465, I Heard a Fly buzz—when I died— No.712, Because I could not stop for Death No.1732, My life closed twice before its close 2.Nature No.328, A Bird came down the Walk— No.986, A narrow Fellow in the Grass No.1624, Apparently with no surprise

8. The Possible Themes of Dickinson’s Poems 3. Unity of Goodness, Truth and Beauty No. 449, I died for Beauty—but was scarce 4. Other Subjects No. 632, The Brain—is wider than the Sky— No.675, Essential oils—are Wrung— No.1129, Tell all the Truth but tell it slant