Emily Dickinson Poetry Essay
Emily Dickinson’s Poetry
There is a lot more to poetry than just the words themselves. “What William Shakespeare called, “the mind’s eye” also plays a role” (Borus34). What that means is that your experiences and thoughts will add to your understanding. Dickinson had an active mind and a style so unique and unusual with her writing. Something that was very unusual about her writing was that she never put a title to her poems. Just like many poets, she used a wide assortment of literary devices such as, metaphor, simile, alliteration, and symbolism. “Unlike many writers of her time, Dickinson did not use conventional rhyme, capitalization, or punctuation” (Borus36). For example, she would put dashes not just at the end of a line, but also within the lines. Dickinson’s writing deals with all different aspects of life; love and death, time and eternity, and war. She treats these themes in a matter of her own, often with humor and playfulness, but most often than not, she is writing with seriousness and sensitivity.
Emily Dickinson was born on December 10th, 1830, in the town on Amherst, Massachusetts. Amherst, 50 miles outside of Boston was becoming well known as a centre for education. “In 1830, was the time when railroads were beginning to crisscross the country, connecting places that were formerly unreachable; people thought of train travel the way we think of traveling to other planets” (Borus9). During this, the economy was based on agriculture, and most people were working as farmers. Emily, however, came from a family of scholars and lawyers. Her values and priorities were very high, due to the high expectations she was given by her grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson, a very religious, hard and steady worker she looked up to. The Dickinson family might not have been too well off and wealthy, but they were very well-known. Emily spent most of her earlier years enclosed in her house; it was very unlikely to see girls playing outside. In the 1800’s, there were
There is a lot more to poetry than just the words themselves. “What William Shakespeare called, “the mind’s eye” also plays a role” (Borus34). What that means is that your experiences and thoughts will add to your understanding. Dickinson had an active mind and a style so unique and unusual with her writing. Something that was very unusual about her writing was that she never put a title to her poems. Just like many poets, she used a wide assortment of literary devices such as, metaphor, simile, alliteration, and symbolism. “Unlike many writers of her time, Dickinson did not use conventional rhyme, capitalization, or punctuation” (Borus36). For example, she would put dashes not just at the end of a line, but also within the lines. Dickinson’s writing deals with all different aspects of life; love and death, time and eternity, and war. She treats these themes in a matter of her own, often with humor and playfulness, but most often than not, she is writing with seriousness and sensitivity.
Emily Dickinson was born on December 10th, 1830, in the town on Amherst, Massachusetts. Amherst, 50 miles outside of Boston was becoming well known as a centre for education. “In 1830, was the time when railroads were beginning to crisscross the country, connecting places that were formerly unreachable; people thought of train travel the way we think of traveling to other planets” (Borus9). During this, the economy was based on agriculture, and most people were working as farmers. Emily, however, came from a family of scholars and lawyers. Her values and priorities were very high, due to the high expectations she was given by her grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson, a very religious, hard and steady worker she looked up to. The Dickinson family might not have been too well off and wealthy, but they were very well-known. Emily spent most of her earlier years enclosed in her house; it was very unlikely to see girls playing outside. In the 1800’s, there were
Cited: Borus, Audrey. A Student 's Guide to Emily Dickinson. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2005. Print. Book Dickinson, Emily, and Thomas H. Johnson. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. London [u.a.: Little, Brown, 1998. Print. Book Gray, John. "Poetry Analysis: Hope Is a Thing with Feathers, by Emily Dickinson." Helium. Helium, 02 Feb. 2008. Web. 07 June 2013. Website