Course objective:

3. To use literature as a basis for discussing representative problems and subjects of American culture (Historicism), such as equality (race, gender, class); modernization and tradition; the individual, family; and community; nature; the role of writers in an anti-intellectual society.

Background on Emily Dickinson:

Her seclusion contributed to the obscurity of her poetry. She lived through the Civil War, yet her poems contain no clear references to that national horror.

Some poems are unfinished; a few even seem to be rough drafts.

Wrote over 1,800 poems published fewer than 10 of them

Dickinson saw writing poetry as an exalted calling (or profession) and dedicated her life to poetry.

Writing was an escape for Dickinson from the pain of loosing the people she loved, to her crisis of faith.

She did not name most of her poems, thus editors gave them names which are the first lines of the poems.

Style

The first lines of her poetry is some of the most prolific and dramatic in all of poetry. The openings were attention grabers and teasers at the same time.

            "I never lost as much but twice" ; "I'm Nobody! Who are you?"

She leaves out helping verbs and connecting words

She drops endings from verbs and nouns.

It is not always clear what her pronouns refer to. Sometimes a pronoun refers to a word which does not appear in the poem at all

She is able to compress the language.

She disregards the rules of grammar and sentence structure this is what has made her so popular with twentieth century critics.

She was far before her time, she uses language much the way modern poets use it.

Unfortunatly this compression can make her poems incomprehensible

She uses the dash to emphasize and to illustrate missing words and to replace a comma or period.

She capitalizes nouns for no reason

Quotes

"I'm Nobody!Who are you?

Are you - Nobody - too?”

"How public--like a Frog--"

"telling their name"

“The Soul selects her own Society-”

"shuts the Door,"

"an Emperor be kneeling / Upon her mat--."

“It sifts from Leaden Sieves --”

“It powders all the Wood.”

“It deals Celestial Vail”

“Then stills its Artisans -- like Ghosts --
Denying they have been -- “

examples of Dickinson's riddle poems

Tone

"I'm Nobody! Who are you?" takes a playful tone to the idea of aloneness, privacy.

"The Soul selects her own Society--" is quieter, grander, and more ominous.

“It sifts from Leaden Sieves --” has many metaphors and uses much more imagery

            nature as symbol of spirit

Questions

Why are her poems considered some of the best, despite their short length?

Are her poems really that simple, or is it her simplicity that allows people to connect with them.

Who is Dickinson’s audience?

What is her style?

If she was born in our time, would her poetry be appreciated as much or was she simply born before her time?