Emily Dickinson

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Emily Dickinson
Prepared by Robin Smith April 2000

• 1830 - 1886

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Early Life

• She was born to religious,
  well-to-do family and had a normal childhood in
  Amherst, Massachusetts.
• Everyone expected her to marry and raise a family
  like most women of her class.
• This all suddenly changed when she was 24.

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She became a poet and recluse.

• Dickinson used precise language and unique
  poetic forms to simultaneously reveal and conceal
  her private thoughts and feelings (Elements of
  Literature 345).
• What happened to turn a young girl into an
  unrecognized poet who never left her house?

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• What would cause a young woman of 24 suddenly to
  isolate herself
• within her yard and house
• and ignore the world outside?

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Speculations about Why

• Went to DC with her father, a congressman,
  because she had fallen in love with a married
  lawyer, who soon died of TB.
• There fell in love with another married man, a
  minister. He moved to San Francisco in 1862.
  About this time she wrote, I sing as the boy
  does by the burying ground, because I am afraid.

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Return to Amherst

• Within a few years, she had retreated from all
  social life in Amherst. Always wearing white,
  like the bride she would never be, she remained
  in her parents house and restricted herself to
  household work and writing poetry, which she
  would sometimes send to people as gifts for
  valentines or birthdays, along with a pie or
  cookies.

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• Only a few of her poems were published in her
  lifetime. She sent four of them to a critic, Mr.
  Higginson, asking for his help. When he sent
  suggestions for changing her poems, she replied
  in a letter, Thank you for the surgery it was
  not so painful as I supposed. I bring you
  others, as you ask (Higginson).

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• After her death, friends and relatives found
  bundles of her poems, which they edited and
  corrected and had published in installments.
• In 1955, Thomas H. Johnson finally published a
  collection of her poems that had not been
  corrected. These are the versions we read
  today.

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Here are two versions of one stanza of one of her
poems. The first is unedited the second has been
corrected.We passed the School, where
Children stroveAt recessin the RingWe passed
the Fields of Gazing GrainWe passed the Setting
SunWe passed the school where children
playedTheir lessons scarcely doneWe passed the
fields of gazing grain,We passed the setting
sun.See the differences? How does the poem
change?
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Why was she a poet?

• Many people have commented that there are no
  great woman artists. Would Emily Dickinson have
  become such a renowned poet if she had married
  and had children?
• What evidence is there in her poetry that she had
  a rich emotional life in spite of the fact that
  she rarely left home?

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What sort of poet was she?

• Dickinson is known for using poetry as private
  observation.
• Her poems are carefully crafted in rhyme and
  meter.
• What autobiographical references do you find in
  the following poems?

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Heart! We will forget him!You and Itonight!You
may forget the warmth he gaveI will forget the
light!When you have done, pray tell meThat I
many straight begin!Haste! Lest while youre
laggingI remember him!This shows a conflict
between her mind and her heart. What controls
you, your mind or your heart? Is she referring
to unrequited love (love that is not returned) or
love that is impossible because of the
circumstances?
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The Soul selects her own SocietyThenshuts the
DoorTo her divine MajorityPresent no
moreUnmovedshe notes the ChariotspausingAt
her low GateUnmovedan Emperor be kneelingUpon
her Mat(continued on next slide) Majority
can mean reaching 21 or the greater part of
something.
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Ive known herfrom an ample nationChoose
OneThenclose the Valves of her attentionLike
StoneDo we make choices with our minds
(thoughts) or our souls (feelings)? Does this
describe her in any way?How would you punctuate
this poem?What examples does this poem contain
of slant rhyme?
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Apparently with no surpriseTo any happy
FlowerThe Frost beheads it at its playIn
accidental powerThe blonde Assassin passes
onThe Sun proceeds unmovedTo measure off
another DayFor an Approving God.What is
unusual about her capitalization? Why does she
do it?What is disturbing about this poem?
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Tell all the Truth but tell it slantSuccess
in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm
DelightThe Truths superb surpriseAs Lightning
to the Children easedWith explanation kindThe
Truth must dazzle graduallyOr every man be
blindWhat is she saying? Is she right?How
could this lesson apply to her own life as well
as to her poetry?
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Another Poet Writes about DickinsonWe think of
her hidden in a white dress among the folded
linens and sachets of well-kept cupboards, or
just out of sight sending jellies and notes with
no address to all the wondering Amherst
neighbors. Eccentric as New England weatherthe
stiff wind of her mind, stinging or gentle,blew
two half-imagined lovers off.Yet legend wont
explain the sheer sanityof vision, the serious
mischiefof language, the economy of
pain.--Linda Pastan (Elements of Literature
371)
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Sources of Images
Photograph of Emily Dickinson On-line image
available http//www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/im
ages/authors/emily.jpg. Painting of Young Emily
On-line image available http//www-unix.oit.umas
s.edu/emilypg/1830.html.