The American Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is regarded as one of the foremost poets of all time. Although her modern sensibility meant that little of her work was published during her lifetime, her poetry is now arguably the most frequently set by contemporary composers. Vital, vivid and pithy, Dickinson's work is both immediately appealing and rewarding upon repeated listening. Running through Dickinson's work is a concern with the workings of the body itself. Her poems offer a compelling inner perspective on the breath, the circulation of the blood, varieties of pain, and the last moments of life itself. While human-scaled and engaged with the viscerality of the everyday, her work simultaneously conjures the epic and the immense — cosmic rhythms
House of Hades is the fourth novel in the Heroes of Olympus series. The novel starts with the paragraph “ Hazel almost ate a boulder. She was peering into the fog, wondering how it could be so difficult to fly across one fatuous mountain range, when the ship’s alarm bells sounded”. In this paragraph it made me interested on how the story will happen.
Emily Dickinson, born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, is regarded as one of America’s best poets. After a poor experience at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, where she was regarded as a “no hope,” her writing career took off in full swing. Although her family was more conservative, regular churchgoers, and socially prominent town figures, Dickinson preferred a socially reserved lifestyle that renounced the traditional values of her day (Baym, 1189-93). The iconoclastic spirit pervasive in Emily Dickinson's poetry reflects her conflict with the traditions of New England society.
In this era, America was trying to form its own poetic identity. "...and poetic achievement was viewed as the standard by which a national culture was measured. The desire to create a distinctly American literature consequently took on a special urgency in the realm of poetry," (pg. 937). "But surely, many reasoned, a nation without its own poets and poetry could not be a real nation," (pgs. 937-938). Because of this, Daniel Whitaker "simply announced that American poetry in fact existed," (pg. 937). He was not alone in this opinion, as "so did many others view the writing of poetry as a patriotic act, a necessary part of building a new and culturally independent country," (pg. 938).
As a student and a college applicant, I'm all too familiar with answering “why” questions, and similarly, I'm positive you are very familiar with reading these “why” answers. With that in mind, I proceed steadily and courageously in the effort to make anyone reading this truly understand “Why Dickinson?”, and what this means to me. Admittedly, Dickinson appeals to me because of the academic standards and accreditations, but it goes deeper than that. I feel remorse in saying that I have not had the opportunity to visit the campus due to familial conflicts, however, I have spent countless hours reading and looking through pictures of the campus so that it almost feels as if I have been. The campus and it’s surrounding areas are utterly breathtaking, and
Born in Amherst, Massachusetts to Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson, Emily began her life on December 10, 1830. Her father portrayed an important role where Emily grew up, and therefore she was able to attend Amherst Academy. There she earned 7 years of education and met inspiring figures that were draft into her writing. The inspiring folk were Leonard Humphrey, the principal at Amherst Academy, and Benjamin Franklin Newton, a family friend. After Amherst Academy, Emily became secluded at home and that is where the magic of her writing commenced.
Instead of focusing on religion, Emily chose to focus on reading, especially Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Poems that was given to her by her male acquaintance, Benjamin Newton. Benjamin Newton also introduced Emily to the poetry of William Wordsworth and greatly inspired Emily’s beginnings as a writer (“Emily Dickinson Biography,” n.d.). While at home, Emily also cared for her sick mother and spent most of her time and energy focusing on renewing her mother’s health with the help of her sister, Lavinia. However, Emily and Lavinia’s mother passed away after many years of suffering due to a stroke (“Emily Dickinson Biography: American Poet and Author,” n.d.).
Emily Dickinson was born December 10, 1830, Amherst, MA to Edward Dickinson, a Yale graduate and politician, and Emily Norcross Dickinson. She was the middle child with an older brother, William Austin Dickinson and a younger sister, Lavinia Norcross Dickinson. She went to school at Amherst Academy for seven years (1840–1847) and she went to Mount Holyoke College. Emily Dickinson is very well-known for her life of social seclusion. Though she is known as one the greatest poets of all time, she was not known of as a great poet during her lifetime. After she died her sister, Lavinia, found hundreds of poems Emily had written. Without these poems, American Literature would have been set back many years. She, along with Walt Whitman, is considered
Emily Dickinson, recognized as one of the greatest American poets of the nineteenth century, was born December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts (Benfey, 1). Dickinson’s greatness and accomplishments were not always recognized. In her time, women were not recognized as serious writers and her talents were often ignored. Only seven of her 1800 poems were ever published. Dickinson’s life was relatively simple, but behind the scenes she worked as a creative and talented poet. Her work was influenced by poets of the seventeenth century in England, and by her puritan upbringing. Dickinson was an obsessively private writer. Dickinson withdrew herself from the social contract around the age of thirty and devoted herself, in secret, to writing.
Let’s play a game. Close your eyes. Now, think of some of your favorite poems. Can you remember the poets who created them? Did you name off Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, and Robert Frost to name a few? I imagine that the majority of people didn’t remember Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson was a talented poet who used her previously devastating personal experiences to enhance her poems.
Two of Dickinson’s universal techniques are metaphor and the fresh application of language; both techniques result in powerful images, and can be seen in two of her poems that focus on nature themes, “ A Bird came down the Walk” and “narrow Fellow.” She closes the poem, “ A Bird” with a stanza equating flight through the air with movement through water,
Emily Dickinson a modern romantic writer, whose poems considered imaginative and natural, but also dark as she uses death as the main theme many times in her writings. She made the death look natural and painless since she wanted the reader to look for what after death and not be stuck in that single moment. In her poems imagination play a big role as it sets the ground for everything to unfold in a magical way. The speakers in Dickinson’s poetry, are sharp-sighted observers who see the inescapable limitations of their societies as well as their imagined and imaginable escapes. To make the abstract tangible, to define meaning without confining it, to inhabit a house that never became a prison, Dickinson created in her writing a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized. She turned increasingly to this style that came to define her writing. The poems are rich in aphorism and dense
Michael Salvucci Mrs. Comeau English 10 Honors Death, Pain, and the Pursuit of Peace Although Emily Dickinson’s poetry is profoundly insightful, her poems have a very confinedpan of subjects and themes. Most likely due to her early life and social reclusion, Dickinson’s poetry is limited to three major subjects: death, pain, and on a somewhat lighter note, nature. Dickinson’s poetry is greatly influenced by her early life as she led an extremely secluded and pessimisticlife. In her early adult years the poet spent one year studying at female seminary, from 1847 to 1848. Dickinson’s blunt pessimistic attitude is shown in a letter, written to a friend, as she says “I am not happy…Christ is calling everyone here, all my companions have
Emily Dickinson is the creator of some of the most famous works in American poetry. Throughout the 1800s, the author dedicated her life to poetry. She used metaphors in an advanced way and displayed power through her unique use of diction. Emily’s immense power with words derived from her determination. Dickinson’s determination to achieve individuality and power is exemplified through her complex poetry and derived from the events that occurred in her life.
Nature plays an important role in our American Literature history. Most of the literature we have come across this term, the authors have included nature as a major theme in their writing. Some of the authors we have studied this term have been Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Emerson, Rip Van Winkle, Equine, Mary Rowlandson, and Anne Bradstreet. These authors all have written incredible, yet unique pieces, that have included nature in such a special way. Freedom has been a big part in the literature we have viewed, but thanks to that freedom is where the writers learned how to appreciate the nature surrounding them and write beautiful about it. Nature is not something that you are granted or something that can be bought, nature
Emily Dickinson is an American poet born in Amherst Massachusetts December tenth, 1830. As a child Dickinson’s love for books was massive yet she did not start writing poetry until she was eighteen. However, she was not known of until after her death. Nonetheless, some people other than her family did now about Dickinson’s remarkable poems. Furthermore, most tried encouraging her to publish her poems yet others did the contrary. Emily Dickinson’s life is what caused her to write such great poetry.