Emily Dickinson

Emily Holt

Mrs. Meehan

English 10, Pd. 6

1 May 2005

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, was born on December 10, 1830 in the small town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Emily was born into a wealthy and well-known family. Living with her father, mother, sister, and brother, Emily went through emotional problems as a child. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was a lawyer, treasurer of Amherst College, and a member of Congress. He was an orthodox Calvinist and he raised his family to be very religious (www.online-literature.com/dickinson). On May 6, 1828, Edward married Emily Norcross (Ferlazzo 11). Emily Norcross was a housewife and she also lived very religiously. She was very depressed for most of her life, which caused distance between her and the rest of her family. The distance with her mother actually caused Emily Dickinson to write that she "never had a mother" (www.kirjasto.sci.fi/emilydic.htm). On April 16th, 1829 Emily's brother William Austin was born. Emily and her brother constantly competed with one another because of the fact that they were both poets.. Emily Dickinson's younger sister, Lavinia Norcross Dickinson, was born on February 28, 1833. Lavinia took the liberty of publishing Emily's poetry after she passed away. Emily attended school at Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Ferlazzo 11).

1850 was the year that Emily first got her start in poetry writing. Her first poem, "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," was published in the Springfield Republican (Knapp 14). At the end of the Civil War, Emily Dickinson reduced the people she kept in contact with to only those she knew through Amherst. She dressed in nothing but white clothing and became a recluse. It is believed that Emily may have had an affair with Reverend Charles Wadsworth or Samuel Bowels (www.online-literature.com/dickinson/). While Emily was in seclusion, there were many Dickinson family battles being fought (www.kirjasto.sci.fi/emilydic.htm). Emily suffered great emotional troubles during 1861 and it is not known whether she ever fully recovered. Emily contracted Bright's disease at the age of 54. She died on May 15, 1886. Her poems were published by her sister, Lavinia, and her niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi (www.kirjasto.sci.fi/emilydic.htm).

The central themes of Emily's poetry were death, love, faith, power, nature, domesticity, immortality, limits of language, and love. She showed violence with the use of allusions to volcanoes, shipwrecks, and funerals. Emily used references to the soul in over 100 of her poems. Emily Dickinson's religious beliefs, personal tragedy, and seclusion influenced her writing greatly.

In her poem, "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers," Dickinson shows her struggle with friendship, religious beliefs, and the Civil War. This poem suggests that Emily is unsure of her religious beliefs, because the religion that is tied into it is inconsistent. In this poem, Emily does not reject her family's Christian doctrines, but she questions them. The alabaster chambers symbolize the sepulchers of dead soldiers. The tombstones made of alabaster, a type of gypsum, in which they can finally rest in peace free from the temptation and the only way they may be reborn is through God's generosity. The alabaster symbolizes a lack of change over time (Knapp 95). This poem was one of only seven that were published in the Springfield Republican while she was alive. A version of "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers" sent to Thomas W. Higginson had a second stanza that was different from the one published. This version suggests the use of ruthless power. Emily Dickinson clearly demonstrates her beliefs of God and her struggle with the Civil War in her poem, "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers" (Hollander 232).

The influence of Emily Dickinson's life is predominantly shown through her poem, "This Is My Letter to the World," because of her despair and remoteness. Her poem was based mainly on her seclusion period. Emily wrote letters to her close friends that lived in Amherst, Massachusetts. Writing and receiving letters, her only contact with the outside world, proved to be important to her through this poem. For example, the poem addresses "Sweet-countrymen," when she wants to be loved (Ferlazzo 125). This shows her need for communication even though she chose isolation. Emily learned that poetry gave her control and glory while still giving her the freedom she needed. It gave her companionship and strength that she used to protect herself from the difficulties of being alone (Knapp 183). The last stanza of the poem proves this through her "Hands I cannot see" (Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson) 19). It displays the lack of relationship, yet her longing for it. "This Is My Letter to the World" also effectively reveals her despair from her possible lover's departure. The line "That never wrote to me," Emily expresses her grief of a former love not returning her letters. In her book, Her Letter to the World, Polly Longsworth introduces the insightful book with Emily's poem, "This Is My Letter to the World," to create a bond with teens who feel overlooked or isolated, similar to Emily Dickinson herself (2). Emily Dickinson conveys her despair and isolation through "This Is My Letter to the World."

Emily Dickinson shows her contrasting views of death due to her parents' deaths, and portrays her religious views in her poems "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," and "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain" (Hollander 288, 236). "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," is a passage about the journey from one world to the next. This poem shows that death can be courteous (www.cswnet.com/~erin/ed15.htm). The beginning of the poem is very casual and light-hearted using words such as "kindly," and is also ironic using the word, "immortality." The poem reveals a lady who is too content with her life that she does not respond to a gentleman's call; however, she eventually is compelled by his generosity to go with him (Ferlazzo 55). The suitor is symbolic of God, leading the way to her ultimate end (Knapp 92). They drive slowly through the park leisurely, as if they had as much time as they wished. This ironic word usage sets the mood for the rest of the poem. Her new infatuation with his man grows as Dickinson uses transitional words to show passage of their life such as "setting," alluding to the sun. By the fourth stanza, she is catching a chill which shows her inevitable death growing