Emily Dickinson's Poetry

Term Paper # 93389

English > Analysis
Literature > Poetry

An analysis of the theme of death as a leitmotif in Emily Dickinson's poetry.

4,954 words () | 10 sources | MLA | 2006 Canada

Paper Summary:

The following paper concentrates on the variety of ways Emily Dickinson's expresses her thoughts and feelings about death in her poetry. One central focus of the analysis is to point out Dickinson's originality and creativity emerging from a gloomy topic. It looks at how Dickinson does not only reflect on death, she presents the intrepid self experimenting with the idea of its own cessation. The paper also provides short comments on some stylistic devices in order to clarify the interdependence between Dickinson's ideas and her use of language.

Outline:
Introduction
Death Understood as Eternal Sleep
Between Life and Death: Death from the Perspective of the Dying
Death as Emphasis on Love
Conclusion
Bibliography

From the Paper:

"Emily Dickinson is recognized today as one of America's greatest poets. Her reputation rests partly on a body of poems that forcefully portray death. Dickinson's death-poetry is marked by both the poet's enthusiasm and her willpower to face, grasp, and describe the circumstances of dying instead of evading the dreadful theme that often eludes language. Moreover, exploring the theme of death from various viewpoints, Dickinson appears to transcend a boundary that is impossible to penetrate in reality. Notwithstanding, she managed to remain the observer and recorder of her considerations and emotions."

Sample of Sources Used:

Anderson, Charles. 1966. Emily Dickinson's Poetry. New York: Anchor Books (passim)
Barker, Wendy. 1987. Lunacy of Light. Emily Dickinson and the Experience of Metaphor. Carbondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press
Dickinson, Emily. 1970. Gedichte. Stuttgart: Gertrud Liepe
Eberwein, Jane Donahue. 1985. Dickinson: Strategies of Limitation. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press
Ernst, Katharina. 1992. "Death" in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson. Heidelberg: Carl Winter