Bringing Emily Dickinson fame to the fore
Emily Dickinson is remembered as one of America’s foremost poets – her work is varied, often dark and filled with a powerful message of hope and liberty. But her work began before she became a well-known poet – what compelled someone so young to begin writing poetry? What inspirations, struggles and periods of development shaped the works she left behind?
Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Her parents were teenagers and her father was a lawyer. She had an appropriate upbringing, being educated for fourteen years leading to her being able to is likely one of the reason for her talent for language. Emily was described as an excellent student, highly curious and independent-mind.
Emily experienced considerable freedom, allowing her to read extensively and possibly inspiring her love for the literary arts. She was not always the hermetic figure she has become though; in her younger years she was known to enjoy the stage, giving performances and a great deal of time was devoted to reading and writing poetry than she appears to have been in later years. Emily’s first publication only came in 1840 when her poem appeared in the Amherst Student magazine, nearly nine years after she was born.
Emily’s poetry expressed a unique exploration of life and death. Her poems draw from a wide variety of sources, from folk song to classical epics. There is certainly a religious slant to her verse, which comes from her upbringing, but it is likely that her ambitions for her work were inspired by the work of all the poets she had read before her.
The defining factor in Emily Dickinson’s work is her individual style. Her work does not adhere to accepted conventions of contemporary verse, but instead throws caution to the wind and represents a new, bold kind of poetry. Her style of writing allows her to express her thoughts and feelings unfiltered, without fear of judgement or criticism. This makes her poems all the more powerful, and it is likely that the freedom of expression she gained through the verse was what motivated her to begin writing them in the first place.
Impact of Nature on Emily Dickinson’s Writing
The home in which Emily Dickinson was born, and the natural environment around it, crucially influenced her artistic development. There are several themes that can be found in her writings, in particular a strong reverence towards nature and the changing of the seasons. This is a theme which was referenced a great deal in her later works and is evidenced in some of the earliest poems she wrote.
The beauty of nature was something which was a great source of inspiration for Emily and gave her a context for reflecting heavily on what she was experiencing and how she could share this with the world. Numerous comparisons were made between her life and the eternal beauty of nature – for example, in “I tasted a liquor never brewed” she compares the simple joys of life to the joy of an eternal being. By connecting with the nature of New England, she found solace in her experience of living within it.
Her connection with the outdoors and her appreciation of the changing seasons allowed her to create unique vocabularies that she used throughout her poems. She was able to draw on their beauty in order to create vivid imagery and express her feelings, simultaneously allowing her to capture the senses of her readers.
The physical and mental effects of living in the countryside of New England had a powerful impact on Emily Dickinson’s writing. While the Wordsworthian idea of using nature as a metaphor for spirituality was present in her poetry, her skills as a poet grew not only as an ode to nature, but also as a source of inspiration for her own musings.
Romanticsim & Emily Dickinson’s Work
Emily Dickinson was very much inspired by the era of the Romantics, in particular her favorite writers, such as William Wordsworth, John Keats and Robert Burns. This was a period of literary movement at the end of the 19th century in Europe, which saw a shift in focus from the rational to the emotional, concentrating on the beauty of nature, the power of love, and celebrating the imagination of the individual.
Themes of nature and its beauty were regularly explored in Emily Dickinson’s poetic works. Dickinson’s focus on the smaller details of nature and its beauty expresses a personal attempt to understand her environment, consider the power of nature, and appreciate its wonders on a spiritual level. It is this sense of heightened awareness of life in nature which attracted the Romantics, and Emily Dickinson ties into their love for the natural world in her own romantic style.
The Romantics celebrated imagination and free expression, which were two of the cornerstones Emily Dickinson wrote about in her work. Without restrictions or the pressures of social conventions, she wrote freely, almost as if readers were ‘given permission to speak through her’. Freely expressing her feelings, she was captivated by the intellectual and spiritual pleasure of writing.
Dickinson’s works similarly embraced the “lyrical form” of the Romantics, which encompasses music, poetry and the romantic yearning for a connection with a higher power. Her poetic works exploring supernatural marvels and wishes to transcend reality could have been inspired by the spiritual aspects of the Romantic period, allowing her to call upon her own spiritual feelings and express them through her work.
Religion in Emily Dickinson’s Works
Religion was a prominent theme in Emily Dickinson’s poetry from a young age. She was raised in a highly religious family. Her father, Edward, was a lawyer and a prominent deacon in the Amherst Congregational Church. Through her upbringing, Dickinson was exposed to traditional Protestant values.
It is clear to see from her poetry that these values resonated within her, even later in life. For example, in her poem “The Bible is an Antiquity”, she creates a heavenly and spiritual context by referencing the Bible and characters from the Old Testament, such as Moses and Adam.
Another religious theme that appears throughout Dickinson’s work is the notion of divine guidance. For example, in her poem “There is a solitude of space” she appears to allude to the idea of prayer allowing her to connect with her creator in the solitude of space. She compares the physical act of holding prayer beads to the metaphysical space between her and her creator.
Emily Dickinson’s allusions to Christianity illustrate a strong reliance on religious faith, which extended itself to questions of morality and the search for divine understanding. She formulated powerful images to portray her beliefs and convey her understanding of religion and spirituality, a theme that remains an integral element in her work even today.
Emily Dickinson and Patriotism
The themes of patriotism are found highly within the works of Emily Dickinson. In particular, her poem “We trust God is love”, written in the lead up to the Civil War, reflects her ambivalent feelings towards the United States of America
Dickinson expresses her pride in her country throughout her works. She conjures patriotic imagery in many of her poems, often referring to national symbols such as the flag and eagles. For example, “Who never wanted-sovereignty?” is a vivid projection of American identity. In its imagery, Dickinson brings to mind the sense of pride and freedom associated with the nation.
However, Dickinson’s patriotism was more than just an admiration of the national symbols; her works also address the socio-political issues of the time. Dickinson was known to have fiery opinions on slavery and the control of the patriarchy, and wrote about furthering agreement between the North and the South. Her political opinions are found in her poem “My country- ’tis of thee(sweet land of liberty). She also wrote about her awareness of the injustices faced by women, writing of the liberties denied and inequalities faced.
Emily Dickinson’s sense of patriotism is reflected in her works, drawing on her spiritual understanding of her environment and her moral stance on the issues of the day. Her exploration of freedom and justice are evident in her writings, revealing an internal and external patriotism of both nation and humanity.
Emily Dickinson and Mental Illness
Emily Dickinson is often thought of as a reclusive poet, who withdrew from the world and rarely left her home. This has led to Emily Dickinson being associated with depression, anxiety and agoraphobia, with some articles claiming that she even suffered from bipolar disorder.
However, there is no evidence that Emily Dickinson exhibited the symptoms of any mental illness during her lifetime, and a lot of the speculation comes from people Trying to make her story more dramatic. Instead, it can be argued that many of her choices were simply a result of her independent nature and her desire to think and create outside the structures of society.
That said, there is evidence that Emily Dickinson did suffer from some form of mental distress. In particular, anxiety; it is likely that her writing was a source of comfort and release in times of distress. Her love of nature and her admiration of the cyclical nature of life can be seen as a coping mechanism, allowing Emily to find solace and inner peace.
The pain and fear she describes in her poetry show that she enjoyed being honest with her true emotions and, in her own words, that “There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away”. This can be seen as a metaphor for how, in times of need, she would retreat into her writing, seeking comfort and refuge amongst the pages.
Emily Dickinson’s work does suggest a state of mental distress, but it is unclear whether or not it was due to a medical or environmental factor. What is clear is that her writing acted as an outlet for her inner struggles, and this was likely a contributing factor in why she began to write poetry in the first place.
