Emily Dickinson's Contribution to Literature

Emily Dickinson 's Contribution to Literature I have three questions that need to be answered in order to determine if something is of literary worth. Does this work hold any foundational value to literature? Did this work spur any social change or unrest? Does this work hold any literary significance in regards to content, style, format and originality? If I can answer yes to any of these questions, then I would deem the work to be worthy of academic evaluation and assessment. The works of Emily Dickinson would fall into the literary significance category based upon her unique and unconventional style, form and meter. Dickinson 's work was highly original and consisted of bold themes, complex lyrics, simple yet extraordinary imagery and vocabulary. Dickinson 's work had a distinctive voice and veered sharply from the poetic expectations of the era. Emily Dickinson 's contribution to the literary world were her originality and influence over future poets. Emily Dickinson was regarded, in her time, as a reclusive and eccentric spinster of almost mythic proportions. While Dickinson was a prolific writer, completing some 1,800 works, she had only 10 poems published in her lifetime (Britannica.com, March 2013). Poetry was not a very popular literary form during Dickinson 's lifetime, however popularity of the art form grew in the years after her death. Dickinson 's did not follow any conventional form in her work, using slant rhymes, syntactical fragments, unusual grammar and a lyrical quality not seem in poetry of the era. Poetry of the time was simple, predictable and followed a strict form and meter, however Dickinson 's poetry surprised the reader with her striking images and free-verse style lyrics that refuse conform to any meter. Dickinson 's content was also very original and unexpected. She explored a wide range of subject matter, however she is most known for her work related to death. Her poems about death explore the subject with

Cited: Britannica.com. Retrieved from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/162174/Emily-Dickinson on March 10,2012.