Laura Demers

Professor Hall

English 1102

17 April 2003

The Theme’s of Dickinson’s Poetry

Death and religion can be found throughout literature. It is not unusual for authors to write about these subjects because most people have had some kind of experience with death and/or religion. It is also frequent that writers, especially poets, have common themes or images throughout their writing. Emily Dickinson is no exception; “her subjects are few and consistently repeated- death, love, frustration, self-questioning, loneliness, and spirituality” (Jennings, 105). Dickinson’s style of writing, use of diction, images and tone consistently support themes of death and religion throughout her poetry.

Writers all have their individual reasons for choosing the subjects they write about and many things influence what they select. Emily Dickinson grew up in a very religious home and her strong pious beliefs have influenced her writing; “The environment in which she lived and the church culture may have sparked imagination” (Eberwein, 1). She also isolated herself from the rest of the community. This atmosphere gave her the unique ability to write from her imagination. This is a very rare situation and makes her poetry like no other. According to critic Elizabeth Jennings, “Dickinson seems to be one of those poets who have extracted the largest possible amount of material from the most outward meager and restricted personal experience” (Jennings, 2). By limiting her experiences, she indirectly limited the subjects of her poetry. She “became a hermit by deliberate and conscience choice” because of the “social and religious structure of New England” (Tate, 83). Many “blame the state of literature and religion in Dickinson’s own time for being the chief cause of her literary limitations,” therefore Dickinson’s poems often have common themes (Jennings, 105).

One of “the dominate Dickinson themes, the obituary theme of the great dead” radiates throughout much of her poetry (Blackmur, 88). Dickinson has a collection of poems about or referring to death; “death is the subject of many of Dickinson’s poems, and death for her is as near, as familiar, as common place even, as love-affairs are in the poems of less self-sufficient poets” (Jennings 106). Examples of this are: “I Felt a Funeral in My Brian,” “I Heard a Buzz Fly When I Died,” “I Died for Beauty -But was Scarce” and “Because I Could Not Stop For Death.” These and many others make death the central theme in Dickinson‘s work.

Death is clearly a theme in poem 280, “I felt a funeral in my brain.” In the first line, she refers to a funeral and in line two she mentions mourners; these are unmistakable references to death. A very dreary tone is set by the sounds of words like “treading--treading” in line three and “beating--beating” in line seven. The repetition also reinforces the somberness and discomfort that is felt throughout the poem. In line six, she makes reference to a “service;” all funerals have services and once again this is a clear allusion to death. In line nine the word “box” refers to a coffin which “creaks”. A creaking sounds makes this coffin a very creepy image often associated with death. In the last stanza, there are references to “Heaven” and “Silence” which also images of death and the afterlife. Finally, the poem ends with “solitary,” a sure consequence of death and possible consequence of the death of a friend or family member.

Another good example of death as a theme is poem 465, “I heard a Fly buzz-- when I died.” The first line is a clue to the theme of the poem with the word “died.” There are images throughout the rest of the poem that reinforce death as the central theme. The phrase “when I died” in the first line sets a very solemn tone that continues throughout the rest of the poem. Words like “Stillness” in line two and three enhance the ideas that go along with death. The fact that it is capitalized in both lines emphasizes the importance and relevance that death is motionless. The comparison of this motionless to the stillness “between the Heaves of Storm” in line four produces a vivid image of the eye of a hurricane. Anyone who has witnessed this motionlessness knows that there is nothing like the silence signifying that more is coming. The imagery continues in line five with the image of eyes had been “wrong dry” from mourning death. With crying comes irregular breathing and line six demonstrates this: “and breaths were gathering firm.” This produces the image of heaving breaths that often accompanies longer periods of intense crying. Following this vivid image is another very intense image of Christ, “the King” standing over the body and his presence is felt in the room. The reference to death continue in the next stanza with an image of a will; “I willed my keepsakes- signed away.” This is a very clear indication of the will in which people leave their belongings after their death. In the last stanza the fly has a “blue” buzz; in this context blue means sad and sorrowful. Then in line fourteen, Dickinson talks about “the light.” The light is what people see when they die. Finally, in the last line she can no longer see and this is an indication that the subject has died.

This theme of death continues in poem 449, “I died for beauty- but was scarce.” The first line introduces the idea of death for the poem as well as a gloomy tone. The subject “died for beauty” but was unsuccessful. Scarce means to come up short and this idea continues throughout the poem. There is another image of death in line two when the word “tomb” is used. In line three, another death is introduced, this one “for Truth.” In line five she is asked, “Why I failed?” and the reply is “for beauty” which refers to her statement in line one, “I died for beauty;” therefore failed is a metaphor for death. In line eleven, the phrase “the moss had reached our lips” produces the image of a coffin buried in the ground and the overgrowth covering it. Then, in line twelve, the overgrowth continues and “covered up- our names” on the tombstones.

Another example is poem 712, “Because I could not stop for death;” “the content of death in this poem eludes explicit definition” (Tate, 84). Once again the first line shows this theme by using the word “death.” In a critical analysis of the poem by Allen Tate, he says that “every image is precise and moreover not merely beautiful, but fused with the central idea” which in the poem is death. (Tate, 84). In the next three stanzas there are the images of her life passing before her eyes which is said to happen right before a person dies. According to John Wheatcroft, “he is the personification of death, which will remove her from this existence with their ride through the New England landscape takes her to her grave” (Wheatcroft, 58). Then in the fifth stanza the “house” is a metaphor for the coffin and “the swelling of the ground” and barely visible roof produce the image of a burial and overgrowth. In line twenty-one, “centuries… feels shorter than days;” this symbolizes eternity and the finality of death. This is reinforced by the word “eternity” in line twenty-four. This poem illustrates the “subject of the daily realization of the imminence of death” (Winters, 34).

These four poems are a small selection from Dickinson’s many poems about death. Each has its own images and tone which collectively express Dickinson’s views and feelings. Death is not the only theme that appears repeatedly in Dickinson’s poetry. Religion is also a common theme. This is due to her religious background and the way she grew up; “the religious climate in which she lived- that of ’puritan theocracy’- as the atmosphere in which her particular kind of poetry could function most effectively” (Jennings, 105). Wheatcroft writes that “the poetry of Emily Dickinson is an emancipation from New England orthodoxy” (Whaetcroft, 54). Religion as a theme can be found in such poems as: “I never saw a Moor,” “I know that He exists,” “Apparently with no surprise,” and “’Faith’ is a fine invention.”

In the poem “I never saw a Moor,” the religious theme is not introduced until the second stanza with the word “God.” However, the first stanza is important for understanding the second. The first stanza sets up the reasoning that just because it has not been seen does not mean it does not exist. Then in the second stanza, Dickinson gives her proof of why God exists based on the statement formed in the first stanza. Both stanzas follow the same form. Because the first stanza is true, the second is by association. In the first stanza she states that she has never seen “a Moor” but she knows “how the heather look” and that she has never seen “the sea” but she knows “what a billow be.” Then in the second stanza she states she has “never spoke with God” or “visited heaven” but she “is certain of the spot.” The logic is established in the first stanza and used to make her point in the second. There is also a statement about Dickinson’s faith in this poem. She asserts that she knows that God exists and that heaven is real.

Religion as a theme is also found in “I know that He exists.” The capitalization of the word “He” represents God. The first line asserts the religious position of the poem by saying “I know that He exists.” The rest of the first stanza characterized His life as “in silence” and “rare.” The remainder of the poem explains blind faith and that “He has hid” and attempts to find or see him would be “too expensive” and would result in “death’s- stiff- stare.” With this poem, Dickinson shows that blind faith is essential and that she must “earn her own surprise.”

The poem, “’Faith’ is a fine invention,” is a very short poem in which Dickinson questions her faith. The term invention provokes the idea that man has created faith and religion for his own benefit and that it is not real. She asserts that when things are good and “gentlemen can see” faith is a fine way of living. However, when things are rough “microscopes are prudent.” In this line, microscopes are a metaphor for scientific advances that would be more useful than faith “in an emergency.” She also uses a “Biblical metaphor of seeing with the eyes of faith to suggest that those who don’t have faith had better turn to some other means of seeing” (Waggoner, 102). Dickinson uses her poetry as an exploration of her faith. This is an example of the doubt that comes from long term unquestioned blind faith that many who are raised in extremely religious home may experience. Dickinson uses her poetry as on outlet for her feelings and a progression of thought.

Dickinson also questions her faith in the poem “Apparently with no surprise.” This poem portrays the natural cycle of life. A “happy flower” is “beheaded” by a morning “frost… in accidental power.” The “assassin passes on” and the “sun proceeds unmoved” and all of this for “an approving God.” The statement that this poem makes is that God approves what seems to be an unnecessary death. With this statement, a doubt in the goodness of religion is demonstrated. Like others of Dickinson’s collection this poem is an exploration of her religious faith once out of the influence of her family and on her own to think for herself, “transforming the commonplace theological metaphor into poetry” (Wheatcroft, 55).

Dickinson uses her poetry to express her feeling and as an exploration of her thoughts. The unique atmosphere in which Dickinson wrote and her lack of formal training makes her poetry honest and true. She writes what she thinks and believes; “for what did actually concern her- her prevision of death and her insight onto the spiritual life” (Blackmur,89). Her wonderful use of images and metaphor lend to the individuality of her

Annotated Bibliography

Blackmur, R.P. “Emily Dickinson: Notes on Prejudice and Fact.” Young. 89.

Discussion of Dickinson’s religious background and an evaluation of its influence on her poetry. Also, contains descriptions of various images that reinforce this idea. Which help to reinforce my arguments.

Eberwein, Jane Donahue. “Ministerial Interviews and Fathers in Faith” Muse. 2002. Johns Hopkins University. 10 April 2003

An interview with Dickinson’s minister as well as comments from friends and family members. These comments are analyzed and broken down into relevant topics that form her religious foundation in her poetry.

Jennings, Elizabeth. “Idea and Expression in Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore and Ezra Pound.” Poetry Criticism. vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 105.

Discussion of Dickinson’s style and technique of writing. As well as similarities between poems in terms of theme, images and diction. These are helpful in backing up my position of common themes. New York: Norton. 1979. This book is a collection of poems in which poetry to be discussed came from. I used these written copies to analyze them poems.

Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 949-994.

This book contains biographical information as well as a collection of poems. Analytical information also comes from this source. Which I used to enforce my analysis.

Tate, Allen. “Emily Dickinson: The Limits of Poetry, Selected Essays.” Poetry Criticism. vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 84.

Discussion of the images and themes in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. Also includes how these themes and images are continuous through much of Dickinson’s poetry.

Waggoner, Hyatt H. “”Emily Dickinson: The Transcendent Self.” Poetry Criticism. vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 101.

Critical analysis Dickinson’s poems including: “I Never Saw A Moore” and “’Faith’ is a Fine Invention”. Also includes the religious relevance of these poems.

Wheatcroft, John. “Emily Dickinson’s White Robes.” Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. vol.21. Detroit: Gale.1989. 35.

Analysis of the themes and images in“ Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and how both religion and death play a role in this poem and throughout her poetry.

Winters, Yvor. “Emily Dickinson and The Limits of Judgment.” Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. vol.21. Detroit: Gale.1989. 20.

Discussion of Dickinson’s views and representations of death in her poetry. And continuing discussion of death in “ Because I Could Not Stop For Death.”