Emily Dickinson, An Innovator in Poetry

By Matthew Cox


Emily Dickinson is an innovator of style and verse in American poetry. She is born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 830 (Edison). Her father, Edward Dickinson, is a respected lawyer and trustee of Amherst College. The poet is educated in Amherst Academy. She attended Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mt. Holyoke College) by dropped out after a year. In 1850, Emily withdraws from her family and friends. By 1861, the poet completely withdraws from society and writes poetry in private. She only contacts people with letters and poems. Dickinson’s official excuse is that she is heartbroken. Her one and only love, Rev. Charles Wadsworth, does not love her. Although Dickinson is one of America’s greatest poets, she only publishes a few poems during her lifetime. She writes them on scraps of paper that she keeps locked away. The works are published after death on May 15, 1886.

Literary experts say both Transcendentalism and Puritanism influence Dinkinson’s poetry. Puritanism keeps her rooted in traditional theology. Transcendentalism lets the poet reach beyond narrow ideas of human nature and see herself with identity. During the 1820’s and 1830’s, the Second Great Awakening sweeps across America. It reconnects unchurched people with traditional Protestant denominations through church revivals. Puritanism teaches that human nature is essentially good as God exists in all of us. However, it also states that people are also capable of great evil. There are two concentrations of the Second Great Awakening: 1). the relationship between God and people; and 2) how individuals and the community interact. Religious conservatives at this time believe in a strict code of ethics that border on intolerance. Puritans also accept that the world is divinely ordered and people are placed on it to worship God. Such ideas of morality cover every aspect of Christian life. Good and evil come from ideas of moral goodness. Calvinism teaches that God chooses who does or does not enter Heaven. Also, free will does not exist as the Creator controls everything that happens.

Transcendentalism lets Dickinson to see beyond the scope of het strict Protestant upbringing. This allows her to see what her feeling and artistic inspiration tells her. On one had, Emily felt God speaking to her. With the other, the poet follows her own instincts while being emotionally honest. Being both a Puritan and Transcendentalist created an inner conflict in the writer. This makes her one of the greatest and highly regarded poets in the country. Dickinson’s early work is influenced by her strong Christian upbringing. The writer does not think that she can depart from her family traditions because they are so ingrained into her. However, she gradually accepts other philosophies including Transcendentalism. Her view of nature as a whole stems from an appreciation of the environment and human nature. To resolve the conflict, she combines the beliefs of both Puritanism and Transcendentalism. Emily’s other alternative includes finding a happy medium between the two. The Danish theologian and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard teacher a similar concept. He believes that people can appreciate God’s powers through our five senses. Kierkegaard also claims that we should understand God’s teachings through reason.

After Dickinson’s death in 1886, her sister Lavinia edited three volumes of the writer’s poetry from 1891 to 1896 (Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). In the early 1990’s, Emily’s niece Martha Dickinson Bianchi published several works in three volumes. Publisher Thomas H. Johnson produced and edited the most comprehensive edition of Dickinson’s writings. His assistant Theodora Ward assembled a volume of letters that the poet wrote to her grandparents. Conrad Aiken edited the Selected Poems compilation in 1924. This book established Dickinson as an important writer.

Emily has a considerable influence on poetry. Her style includes frequent dashes, sporadic capitalizations of nouns, off-rhymes, broken meter, and unconventional use of metaphors. This unconventional style paves the way for other female writers including Sylvia Plath. Many scholars say that Dickinson’s writings led to modern feminist poetry. Many psychologists and psychiatrists say that her poetry gives comfort to people with mental problems.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Many feminist literary experts assert that Emily’s reputation as an eccentric reclusive was exaggerated. Such people claim that she is an intelligent person struggling with both passive and aggressive feelings. Her writing is full of images including volcanoes, shipwrecks, funerals, violent images, and other themes relating to pain. Scholars admire Dickinson’s relationship with her sister Sue Gilbert. They claim that it is strong and helped the poet get through the bad times. Also, literary experts say that the writer Helen Hunt Jackson remains a friend to the reclusive Dickinson. Jackson’s poems influence the latter.


Works Cited

Edison, Jennifer. “Religious Influences on Emily Dickinson: Puritanism and
Transcendentalism in Her Poetry.” December 1996. American Literature
Research and Analysis Web Site.
4 March 2008 http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/edidwell.htm



“Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).” Books and Writers. 2002. 4 March 2008
http:/www.kirjasto.sci.fi/emilydic.htm