“Pain and loss lie at the heart of Dickinson’s poetry”. Cons

In reading Dickinson’s works for the first time it is possible to form, what I believe to be, the misconception that pain and loss are the main characteristics of her poetry. This could be due to the morbid and sombre tones which feature in many of her poems, or, alternatively, it could be owed to a fairly common theme in her works, death. However through studying both Dickinson’s poetry and background I would argue that overall she had a positive and happy outlook on life.

Although it is true that she rarely left her father’s home in Amherst, Massachusetts, I believe it was her choice to live a life of solitude, preferring not to mix with society. Emily Dickinson believed that the task of finding out who you really were was impossible when influenced by the social order, a particularly infuriating principle being the conventional women of the time.

This view is clearly confirmed in poem number 60 - ‘what soft cherubic creatures’, in which she criticizes middle class women for their seemingly worthless lives:

“What soft cherubic creatures, these gentlewomen are”

This line is both bitter and sarcastic; it was Emily’s belief that these women were unenlightened and ignorant of others. The poem is a mocking comparison of

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I believe Emily Dickinson’s exuberance for life and the world around her was the cause of her passion for writing. For example relationship problems, religious crisis, or an ongoing theory that she had homosexual feelings, an aspect always to be denied during the 19th century. Like the stone she is happy with no demands and a simple lifestyle.

This ignorance would have frustrated Emily, whose passion for nature is expressed in many of her poems.

“The love of thee - a prism be -

Excelling violet”

Through ‘excelling violet’, she is declaring that their relationship goes beyond the spectrum range of colours.

“One would soon assault a plush - or violate a star”

The ‘plush’ (pin cushion) could be a metaphor for the women themselves, soft and vulnerable. I believe that Emily wrote about all her feelings and experiences, including the unpleasant ones. Some even believe that it was at this stage in her life she was going through a breakdown. A key event in her life was a disappointment in love for one particular person, and all her thoughts about the relationship were transferred into her poetry. women to their ideal conformities in the world, criticizing conventional women as a whole, rather than referring to one in particular. The fact that she is ‘seeing him better in the dark’ indicates that she does not need his looks and without the light she sees him for who he really is. Perhaps she is also hinting that she would prefer to be left alone, although it has been said that she had compelling relationships with both men and women. She hated the idea that what the majority of people thought was considered right. An excellent example is “the bee is not afraid of me”, in which she expresses her unique bond with nature:

“The bee is not afraid of me,

I know the butterfly;

The pretty people in the woods

Receive me cordially.

Although I personally believe that the majority of Emily’s poems are positive, it cannot be said that they all are.

Approximate Word count = 1162
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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