Emily Dickinson, a contemplative American poet of nineteenth century has influenced the literary world, with her numerous poems exhibiting individualism, freedom of expression, strong feministic views, philosophy and variant emotions of her own life in a relatively simple language.
Her writing style is usually identified as poems without titles, the narrative tone, usage of dashes, concise format and expression in simple language making her poems more personalized and simply original.
Maybe the poems were not titled, so as to make it, an informal expression as that of self expression or she didn’t have the objective focus on publication of her poems. And the beginning of another poem is distinguished with the capitalization of the words in the first line. Hence, her collection of poems, almost gives the feel and thrill of reading her personal diary in poetry format.
She mostly uses dashes, instead of punctuations, which seems to subdue the seriousness, impart more spontaneity without rules and innovative freedom of expression. And most of her poems are concise expressions in impressively vivid words.
Her poems exhibit ease of expression with justified meter and rhyme. Impressively vivid imagery in elegantly simple language without the complexity and conventionality of a professional poet, gives her poems the natural flow and temperament of simplicity. Though the contemplative subjects, she writes about, are slightly complex and mostly contemporary. She preserves her spark of humor, especially in despair poems of irony and slight sarcasm. Her usage of metaphors with grace and brilliance, to convey the emotions of self expression poems is remarkable.
The most common themes of her poetry are eternity, death, love, nature, life and self expression. Her poems shows obsession over the concept of eternity, which perhaps is an extension of her strong hope and expectations to live or an attempt to compensate her empty life atleast in thoughts and beliefs. The lucid expression and projection of imagination in the poem, “The chariot” is a good example.
Her poems about death reflect her agony and despair haunting her to the extent of grave emotions and contemplations, as in “I hear a fly buzz when I died”. The poem, “A coffin- is a small domain”, shows her contemplation of the natural phenomena with prophetic maturity, while “Tis so appalling- it exhilarates”, expresses the variant emotions of fear from the perspective of an emotionally afflicted person.
Being an introverted and hermetic person, poems like “A bird came down”, exhibit her deep adoration for nature. ‘Twould ease a butterfly” reflects her deep observation of nature along with contemplations of philosophy. Her poems written about love reflect her beliefs in love, about unrequited love, her emptiness, deep yearning for love and companionship. Few of the examples are, “Twas love-not me”, the way I read a letter’s –this”, “Except that heaven had come so near” and “To my small hearth his fire came”.
Her self expression and views about life are diverse encompassing emotions of melancholy, her illness, irony, attitude, faith and also pessimistic broodings. ‘Safe in their alabaster chambers’ seems an expression of her own life and people similar. ‘No man can compass despair” is a reflection of reality and inner quest. “Tis sunrise, little maid- hast thou” – is a motivating conversation with herself, coping with her bouts of depression. In “A burdock- clawed my gown”, she speaks about facing unjust criticism and bitterness. And “Twas a maelstrom” speaks about the phases of her illness.
‘Tis anguish grandeur than delight’ seems to speak about the emotions involved in redemption, which gives an in impression she was spiritually inclined in her matured stages of life. Her introspective and optimistic attitude is evident in poems like “Me from myself – to banish” and “I am ashamed, and I hide”. Most of her concise self expressions has a tendency to light and wisdom, as in ‘Tis not that dying hurts”, “My faith is larger than hills” and “Tis little I- could care for pearls”.
Being a closet poem and unpublished author, seems she uninhibitedly transcribes her emotions of insanity and sensual desires, which could only be analyzed or understood depending upon the context such as phase of her illness, nervous breakdown into fantasy deviations, catharsis of insanity, her spinster life without marital completion of womanhood or motherhood, her age and related maturity. For example, “Wild the night, Wild the night”, a poem of passion, speaks about her yearning and broodings of spinster life. Her life seems a mysterious melancholia entrapped in loneliness and illness. Perhaps, poetry has been her refuge and comfort, an outlet for emotions and thoughts, to channelise her negative energy of depression and despair.
Her poetry seems too contemporary, sometimes impractical and unrealistic for her time and period. Her competence and uninhibition, just as men, in freedom of expression and contemplation, would have never been accepted or even strongly discouraged. Unfortunately her poems contain streaks of idiosyncrasies reflective of her phases of illness, which overshadows her intellectuality and contemplations. It also becomes a reason for speculative appreciations with slight underestimation. Her contemplations along spiritual and philosophical dimension, seems to have been further enriched by the many years of solitude and evolution with maturity of age.
An essay about Emily Dickinson, a contemplative American poet of nineteenth century - a basic study of the nature of her poetry.
Adding your comment:
