Emily Dickinson
Lapis Lazuli -An International Literary Journal (LLILJ) Vol.2/ NO.2/Autumn 2012
Emily Dickinson’s Perspectives on Death: An Interpretation of Dickinson’s Poems on Death.
Omana Antony Suchi Dewan
A Death blow is a Life blow to Some Who till they died, did not alive become — Who had they lived, had died but when They died, Vitality begun. (816) Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth1 Dickinson (1830-1886) has often been pictured as a sensitive but isolated poet. During her lifetime she was little known and it is only after the publication of Thomas .H. Johnson‘s third edition of Dickinson‘s complete poems in 1952 2 that a renewed interest in her work was created in America as well as in abroad. Her work best defines the distinctive qualities of American Experience, an emanation of liberal independent soul as against the dogmatic thought of religious dependence of Calvinism3. Right from the beginning she was an introvert
Lapis Lazuli -An International Literary Journal (LLILJ) ISSN 2249-4529, Vol.2/ NO.2/Autumn 2012 URL of the Issue: http://pintersociety.com/vol-2-issue-2autumn-2012/ URL of the article: http://pintersociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Omana-Antony-13.pdf © www.pintersociety.com 1
Emily Dickinson’s Perspectives on Death: An Interpretation of Dickinson’s Poems on Death.
making rendezvous with her own soul. Later her introversion by and by led her to mystical experience called union with the soul or the divine. Her mystical experience enabled her to redefine everything in line with her spiritual thinking; and she wrote several poems under the intoxication of her spiritual thinking. A close reading of Dickinson‘s poems indicates that the best of her poems revolve round the theme of death. Being a mystic she believes in the deathlessness of death. In fact if death is to be assigned any position in her world then it will be second only to God. Death is a free agent; it is evergreen and all powerful. All the man-made creations perish with the
Emily Dickinson’s Perspectives on Death: An Interpretation of Dickinson’s Poems on Death.
Omana Antony Suchi Dewan
A Death blow is a Life blow to Some Who till they died, did not alive become — Who had they lived, had died but when They died, Vitality begun. (816) Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth1 Dickinson (1830-1886) has often been pictured as a sensitive but isolated poet. During her lifetime she was little known and it is only after the publication of Thomas .H. Johnson‘s third edition of Dickinson‘s complete poems in 1952 2 that a renewed interest in her work was created in America as well as in abroad. Her work best defines the distinctive qualities of American Experience, an emanation of liberal independent soul as against the dogmatic thought of religious dependence of Calvinism3. Right from the beginning she was an introvert
Lapis Lazuli -An International Literary Journal (LLILJ) ISSN 2249-4529, Vol.2/ NO.2/Autumn 2012 URL of the Issue: http://pintersociety.com/vol-2-issue-2autumn-2012/ URL of the article: http://pintersociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Omana-Antony-13.pdf © www.pintersociety.com 1
Emily Dickinson’s Perspectives on Death: An Interpretation of Dickinson’s Poems on Death.
making rendezvous with her own soul. Later her introversion by and by led her to mystical experience called union with the soul or the divine. Her mystical experience enabled her to redefine everything in line with her spiritual thinking; and she wrote several poems under the intoxication of her spiritual thinking. A close reading of Dickinson‘s poems indicates that the best of her poems revolve round the theme of death. Being a mystic she believes in the deathlessness of death. In fact if death is to be assigned any position in her world then it will be second only to God. Death is a free agent; it is evergreen and all powerful. All the man-made creations perish with the
References: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. by Thomas. H.Johnson, Backby Books: Little, Brown and Company, New York, 1960, PP., 1-770 ―Calvinism‖ is an ―ism‖ after the name of John Calvin (1509-64), a young Renaissance religious scholar, who gave a very strict code of religion to people, which code is called Calvinism Cited in S. Khan, Emily Dickinson‘s Poetry: The Flood Subjects, Aarti Book Centre, New Delhi, 1969, P-108. Ibid., p-108. Richard Chase, Emily Dickinson, p-223. Clark Griffith, The Long Shadow, p-280. James Reeves, in Emily Dickinson: A Collection of critical Essays, ed. by Richard Sewall, Prentice- Hall, 1963. American Literary Scholarship: An Annual / 1981 ed. James Woodress (Duke University Press, Durham North, Carolina, 1983), p-90.