Though socially reclusive and known for her introspection and focus on deep spiritual themes, Emily Dickinson is one of the most well-loved and highly regarded poets of our time. Her bold voice and unique writing style were largely discovered after her death and left with us a lasting impression that set the tone for many future writers.
Dickinson’s Formative Years: The Roots of Her Poetry
Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. Her parents were both scholarly individuals and her father Edward was a prominent political figure and lawyer. Her mother Emily was dedicated to her scientific studies. Young Emily spent her early years and later schooling at Amherst Academy, showing a particular interest in the sciences, botany, and the like which surely contributed to her writing on nature and all things therein.
Nature as a Mirror: Dickinson’s Connection to the Natural World
In Addition to finding refuge in nature as someone who wasn’t enamored with society, along with her scientific studies playing a role, Dickinson wove natural themes into her poetry as part of a larger desire to understand the universe around her. Like other transcendentalists of her time, she sought to find meaning and connection to the divine through nature. Many of her most famous works embody this desire including “Nature, the Gentlest Mother” and “Nature is What We See”.
Spiritual Reflections: Dickinson’s Religious and Philosophical Views
After her time at Amherst Academy, Dickinson went on to study at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for one year. There is speculation as to why she only completed one year, however some sources cite her disinterest in aligning herself with Christianity and the repetitive studies as possible reasons. There’s no doubt, though, that her time there did contribute to her exploration of spiritual themes in keeping with her contemporaries. Her ongoing query into the origins and mysteries of the world around her certainly played into Dickinson’s writings and poems on other major life themes.
The Language of the Heart: Love and Hope in Dickinson’s Verse
While Dickinson never married and evidence would suggest that most of her relationships were intellectual bonds with contemporaries, she wrote a significant number of deep and beautiful love poems. She focused largely on longing, connection, and loss. Within many of these poems is an undercurrent of hope. One of her most famous poems shares a title with its most oft-quoted line, “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul.” In it, Dickinson uses the personification of the bird as a way to portray the constant nature of hope.
Confronting Mortality: Dickinson’s Perspective on Death and the Afterlife
Another of Dickinson’s most famous works, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, provides the reader with a strong example of how she often treated the topic in her writing. Death was personified and acknowledged as an inevitable part of life and an impending end. Though a sobering topic, the poet creates a peaceful narrative surrounding her journey to the afterlife and did so often with her various musings on the subject.
Whether she was writing about life, death, love, nature, spirituality, or hope, Emily Dickinson left behind a legacy as one of the most prolific writers of her time and most well-loved poets to this day.
