Category: Emily Dickinson

Abstract

The purpose of this extended essay is to challenge the effects of the life and ordeals of literary icons on their poetry, by examining the question ‘To what extent did Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath’s life of crisis affect their poetry?’ The scope of this essay encompasses two poets. The unique and exceptional poetry of Dickinson as well as the idiosyncratic journey of Plath drew me to these particular poets. This paper explores Dickinson and Plath’s life threads and their reflections through the poets’ writings.

There are parallels to be found in the essence of both poet’s lives, with both Dickinson and Plath featuring similar subjects.

The link between the personae of the poets and their written expressions leaves other doorways open to exploration. How did the cultivation of crises in both poets’ lives come to be? In what manner where these crises reflected through their poetry? Through what did these icons influence or reshape American poetry?

Introduction

Dickinson lived a reclusive life. She was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts (where she lived her whole life) to a prominent family. She attended Amherst Academy from 1840-1847. By the 1860s, Dickinson lived in almost total isolation from everyone except her family along a few visitors. But given her extensive reading and frequent correspondence with a wide circle of friends, she was far from cut off intellectually. Her social contact was with her immediate and extended family. The small number of people whom she did meet were a huge influence on her poetry. Dickinson published few than a dozen poems in her lifetime. In fact, no one knew that she’d been nearly so prolific until her sister discovered more than 1800 poems after Emily’s death in 1886. Both siblings were important to Dickinson emotionally and intellectually. (http://www.edickinson.org/, n.d.)

Plath was born in Boston in 1932. Her father was an entomologist and wrote a book about bees, which are the subject of many of Plath’s later poems. Her mom was a first generation American pursing a master’s in teaching when she met Plath’s father. Sylvia published her first poem at the age of eight. Her father died that same year. She was a good student and attended Smith College and was awarded a summer internship at Mademoiselle Magazine. The internship was the inspiration for her wonderful novel The Bell Jar. The novel follows its heroine, Esther, as she slides into a severe depressive episode. It is tale of a woman who finds herself unable to enjoy her summer in the city and all the perks that come with her internship. When she returns home, her mother sees her depression and takes her to a doctor, who treats her extensively with electric shock therapy. She continues to get worse until a benefactor pays for her to go to a private hospital where she is treated appropriately and gets well enough to leave the hospital and go back to school. But she survived at graduated from Smith and then went on to win a Fulbright scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge where she met Ted Hughes, a poet whose work she admired. They married a few months later and found a mutual interest in astrology and the supernatural and a mutual admiration for each other’s work. In 1962, Plath discovered that Hughes was having an affair and they separated. Later that year, she experienced a creative burst and wrote a book’s worth of poems. And then, in February of 1963, she took her own life. She was only 30. Sylvia Plath became the first person to posthumously win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her book The Collected Poems, published in 1981. (The Poetry Foundation, n.d.)

Feminism

The idea of patriarchal dominance can be shown in Dickinson’s following poem (htt1):

They shut me up in Prose –

As when a little Girl

They put me in the Closet –

Because they liked me “still” –

During Dickinson’s time it was considered that poetry requires a person to have a high level of intellect which women lacked. And therefore, women could only write prose while poetry was reserved for men. In this rebellious poem by Dickinson, “They” refers to the patriarchal society that impedes women and likes them to be “still” or passive.

Title divine—is mine!

The Wife—without the Sign!

Acute Degree—conferred on me—

Empress of Calvary!

Royal—all but the Crown!

Betrothed—without the swoon

God sends us Women—

When you—hold—Garnet to Garnet—

Gold—to Gold—

Born—Bridalled—Shrouded—

In a Day—

Tri Victory

‘My Husband’—women say—

Stroking the Melody—

Is this—the way?

In “Title divine —is mine!” (htt2), Dickinson sarcastically reveals how the “wife” title is given like a crown but this wife’s duties remain anything but regal. By likening women to Jesus Christ, she establishes that women are crucified in the institution of marriage. It also shows how marriage concludes a “Tri victory” for the patriarchal society. In the end, the poet challenges those women and asks them if that is what they want (“Is this—the way?”). It is then illustrated how Emily Dickinson challenged the realities of women in patriarchal societies and provided an inspiring female voice that opposed the doctrines of marriage and patriarchy. But she excusable contradicts herself when she also submits, like her siblings, to her father’s will. She asks him for his permission when she wants to write late at night, also noting that no husband would have granted such permission.

In a time dominated by men, a lot of Sylvia Plath’s poetry revolved around her struggle to find her voice, with suggestions of female oppression. In “Mushrooms”, Plath likens the mushrooms to a repressed group:

Our toes, our noses

Take hold on the loam,

Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,

Stops us, betrays us;

The small grains make room…

Little or nothing.

So many of us!

So many of us!…

We shall by morning

Inherit the earth.

Our foot’s in the door.

This metaphor compares mushrooms to women as they begin to “Acquire the air”, it also foreshadows a women’s rights movement or an uprising of women (“We shall by morning…Inherit the earth”). Plath is therefore described as a feminist poet, writing about the plight of women before the idea of feminism and women’s rights was mainstream. Essayist Thomas McClanahan wrote: ‘At her brutal best — and Plath is a brutal poet — she taps a source of power that transforms her poetic voice into a raving avenger of womanhood and innocence.’

Domestic Dissatisfaction and Family Relations.

Evident in Dickinson’s letter correspondence is her strained relationship with her family.

“I have a brother and sister; my mother does not care for thought, and father, too busy with his briefs to notice what we do. He buys me many books, but begs me not to read them, because he fears they joggle the mind.” Dickinson couldn’t seek support from her family in her literary efforts as none of them saw her as a literary genius. Her father, for example, only saw her brother Austin as a genius and didn’t look beyond.

But Dickinson was a caretaker till the end. She cared for her mother for the final seven years of her life, until her mother died on November 14, 1882. In a letter to Mrs. J.C. Holland, she wrote: ‘The dear Mother that could not walk, has flown. It never occurred to us that she had not Limbs, she had Wings–and she soared from us unexpectedly as a summoned Bird–‘ Dickinson could not understand what it meant: the death of her mother. She had experienced so much death in her life, not only with the deaths of friends and acquaintances, but the death of her father, and now her mother.

Each that we lose takes part of us;

A crescent still abides,

Which like the moon, some turbid night,

Is summoned by the tides.

In this poem, Emily compares the pangs of grief, which never quite subside, with the tidal pull of the moon on a cloudy night.

Sylvia Plath’s complex relationship with her father is portrayed in her poem, “Daddy”:

You do not do, you do not do

Any more, black shoe

In which I have lived like a foot

For thirty years, poor and white,

Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.

You died before I had time–

Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,

Ghastly statue with one gray toe

Big as a Frisco seal

This is a vivid illustration of anguish, brutality and a crying out of the soul from a daughter who lost her father. The poet begins with he “does not do anymore” referring to the fact that she feels like she has been a foot who has been living in a black shoe for the last thirty or so years. She refers to him as “Daddy” and insists that she needed to kill him, but he passed away before she could.

Imagery and Symbolism

A very real aspect of the most transcendent of poetry is the elegant use of symbolism in a way that connects or inspires the reader.

The Lightning is a yellow Fork

From Tables in the sky

By inadvertent fingers dropt

The awful Cutlery

Of mansions never quite disclosed

And never quite concealed

The Apparatus of the Dark

To ignorance revealed.

Dickinson often remains mysteriously teasing (htt3). And one reason for this is that her metaphors, here likening the lightning to a ‘fork’, hovers uneasily between metaphor and a literal comparison. And this is where Dickinson’s real subject might be discovered – language. The excitement of the comparison of the prongs of a form with the dazzling prongs of light of lightning comes back to life. And the fingers, in line three, further strengthen the visual images – fingers rather like the ‘prongs’ of a fork, or lightning. The strangeness of language is also forcefully impressed on the reader.

She uses symbolism to pose a question to the reader without explicitly asking one. This poem closely resembles the poems of the Imagists, as she makes a short description of a lighting strike. However, the description becomes only half the poem, as she goes deep into metaphor and abstract ideas.

Imagery used inside of Dickinson’s poems create a bigger picture in the readers’ minds that let them almost feel some of the words talking to them. Whereas symbolism in her poetry work shows how an object or piece inside the poem can represent a meaning behind it. Both of which the symbolism and imagery that Dickinson uses in her poems creates the overall effects that she as a writer is looking to achieve. Dickinson’s poetry develops her reader’s minds by using the two primary sources such as imagery and symbolism that are being imaged by the reader, the overall meanings behind her poetry, and the symbolic representation in her work.

“From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked…but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

In this passage from Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Bell Jar,’ a young woman imagines an uncertain future– and speaks to the universal fear of becoming paralyzed by the prospect of making the wrong choice. Under Plath’s shrewd eye and pen, everyday objects became haunting images: a “new statue in a drafty museum,” a shadow in a mirror, a slab of soap. In her first collection of poems, ‘The Colossus,’ she wrote of a feeling of nothingness: ‘white: it is a complexion of the mind.” At the same time, she found solace in nature, from “a blue mist” “dragging the lake,” to white flowers that “tower and topple,” to blue mussels “clumped like bulbs.”

‘Ariel’ is also filled with foreboding imagery, such as “a child’s cry” that “melts in the wall” and a “red/eye, the cauldron of morning.” Former American poet laureate Robert Pinsky said her poems ‘throw off images and phrases with the energy of a runaway horse or a machine with its throttle stuck wide open.’

Similarly, here’s part of her poem ‘Cut,’ which she wrote about cutting her thumb while cooking.

‘What a thrill —

My thumb instead of an onion.

The top quite gone

Except for a sort of a hinge

Of skin,

A flap like a hat,

Dead white.

Then that red plush.’

By this use of imagery, Plath takes a commonplace experience and transforms it into something more. This allows the reader to relate to it even though he hasn’t considered it before. But while it allows the reader to relate, this imagery is also sort of disorienting (the poem begins with ‘What a thrill’).

Death

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me –

The Carriage held but just Ourselves –

And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring –

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –

We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed us –

The Dews drew quivering and chill –

For only Gossamer, my Gown –

My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –

The Roof was scarcely visible –

The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses’ Heads

Were toward Eternity –

Death is given the persona of a placid and cordial character, not one to be feared since Dickinson states that he was kind. The entire scene is set up as intimately solace. Dickinson is known for her glib irony on issues such as death and suicide and the afterlife.

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading – treading – till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through –

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum –

Kept beating – beating – till I thought

My mind was going numb –

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space – began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but an Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race,

Wrecked, solitary, here –

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down –

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing – then –

It is thought that Dickinson is comparing her mental health to a funeral procession treading across her mind, which she symbolizes as a wooden floor. Emily Dickinson’s poetic work contains different descriptions of death that encompass emotional responses to the body’s and/or soul’s journey into eternity, madness, or nothingness. Her poems’ greatness comes from the elaborate use of literary techniques to give shape to death, and the ambiguity of meaning that allows different interpretations of these journeys. ‘I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died’ presents a vision of death in which there is no afterlife as it focuses on the putrefaction that occurs after the death of the poet herself, a process that, according to the poem, leads to nothingness. A contrasting vision of death appears in Dickinson’s poem ‘Because I Could Not Stop for Death –.’ Here, death is presented as a journey towards eternity. The poem depicts a vision of an afterlife, where the individual transcends and goes to a space where time seems not to exist. This is Dickinson’s romantic view of death. The poet personifies death as someone who is civil, patient, and respectful, and who gives rides to people. After Death stops for a busy poetic narrator who had no time to think about death, they start a journey together towards eternity, passing through places that symbolize different stages of her life. Emily Dickinson’s selected poems offer a varied repertoire of her apparent contradictory views of death. The clashing interpretations of death are accompanied by an elaborate use of literary techniques. Each poem reflects a different type of journey, and there is an implicit invitation to the reader to choose which definition of death goes better with his/her set of beliefs.

Plath’s first suicide attempt was in 1953. She crawled underneath her he crawled underneath her house and took her mother’s sleeping pills and said later that she was ‘blissfully succumbed to the whirling blackness that I honestly believed was eternal oblivion.

So here are a couple excerpts from one of Plath’s most famous poems, Lady Lazarus:

‘Dying Is an art, like everything else.

I do it exceptionally well.

I do it so it feels like hell.

I do it so it feels real.

I guess you could say I’ve a call.

It’s easy enough to do it in a cell.

It’s easy enough to do it and stay put.

It’s the theatrical

Comeback in broad day

To the same place, the same face, the same

Brute Amused shout:

‘A miracle!’

That knocks me out.’

‘Out of the ash

I rise with my red hair

And I eat men like air.’

The poem is brutal, and angry, and morbid. It involves a lot of corpses. But it’s also a poem of empowerment, and in a weird way, it’s kind of hopeful. It’s the kind of hard, one hope that you can take with you no matter how difficult things get. Lazarus, of course, refers to the Bible story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. She’s imagining herself as rising from the dead, because she lived through a suicide attempt.

Fiercely intelligent, penetrating and witty, Plath was also diagnosed with clinical depression. She used poetry to explore her own states of mind in the most intimate terms, and her breathtaking perspectives on emotion, nature and art continue to captivate and resonate.

Shortly after the publication of ‘The Bell Jar,’ Plath died by suicide at age 30. Two years later, the collection of poems she wrote in a burst of creative energy during the months before her death was published under the title ‘Ariel.’ Widely considered her masterpiece, Ariel exemplifies the honesty and imagination Plath harnessed to capture her pain.

In one of ‘Ariel’s’ most forceful poems, ‘Lady Lazarus,’ she explores her attempts to take her own life through Lazarus, the biblical figure who rose from the dead. She writes, “and I a smiling woman/ I am only thirty/ And like the cat I have nine times to die.” But the poem is also a testament to survival: “I rise with my red hair/ And I eat men like air.” This unflinching language has made Plath an important touchstone for countless other readers and writers who sought to break the silence surrounding issues of trauma, frustration, and sexuality.

Conclusion

Dickinson is one of the most influential writers in the history of American writing and her influence can still be seen today. She is the most paradoxical of poets. The very poet of paradox: vividly present on the page but at the same time persistently elusive. Dickinson’s poems, like all the best poems, make a demand on us, but we are richly rewarded. Dickinson said ‘To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.’ Reading her poetry is equally startling. She also wrote a poem which begins, ‘I dwell in Possibility’; so do her poems and they offer us all manner of ways of understanding our own humanity and place in the universe. And the mystery is that all she has at her disposal, like all writers, is words. Also known as Queen Recluse, her life of reclusion, transcendentalism, and solitude shaped her poetry and persona to an insurmountable extent.

While her work can be shocking in its rage and trauma, Plath casts her readers as witnesses– not only to the truth of her psychological life, but to her astounding ability to express what often remains inexpressible. Throughout her unusual life experiences, Plath remained blisteringly lively. But they are these life experiences that lead to her unique writing style and outstanding use of literary techniques.

As such, it is curious to think that people should wonder why poetry is such an integral part of human expression. Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson understood the motivational factors that poetry innately possesses, in as much as each poet directed her distinct style toward that which influenced her most.

Bibliography

1. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52196/they-shut-me-up-in-prose-445
2. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Emily-dickinson-title-divineis-mine-annotated
3. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bos5SkdJofU
4. http://www.edickinson.org/. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emily-dickinson
5. The Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sylvia-plath

INTRODUCTION

Emily Dickinson is considered as one of the towering figures of American literature. Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, Massachusetts. Her family has deep roots in New England. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was known as the founder of Amherst College. Her father worked in Amherst and served as a state legislator. He married Emily Norcross in 1828 and the couple had three children: William Austin, Emily, and Lavinia Norcross.

A great student, she was educated at Amherst Academy (now Amherst College) for seven years and then attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for a year. Although the exact reason for Dickinson’s last departure from the academy in 1848 is unknown; The theory offered says that her emotionally fragile state may have played a role and / or that her father decided to withdraw him from school. Dickinson finally never joined a particular church or denomination, tenaciously against the religious norms of the time.

Dickinson began writing as a teenager. Her works inspirited by a poetry book by Ralph Waldo Emerson that given by Leonard Humphrey, the headmaster of Amherst Academy, and her friend named Benjamin Franklin Newton, who sent the book. In 1855, Dickinson traveled outside Amherst, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, she befriended a minister named Charles Wadsworth, who would also be her most beloved correspondent.

Among her friends, Dickinson’s closest friend and adviser was a woman named Susan Gilbert, who might also have a great interest in Dickinson. In 1856, Gilbert married Dickinson’s brother William. The Dickinsons live in a large house known as Homestead in Amherst. After marriage, William and Susan settled on a property next to Homestead known as Evergreens. Emily and sister Lavinia served as chief caregivers for their mother who was sick until she died in 1882. Neither Emily nor her sister had ever married and lived together at Homestead until their respective deaths.

Dickinson’s alienation during her last years has been the object of much speculation. Experts argue that he is suffering from conditions such as agoraphobia, depression and/or anxiety, or maybe exiled because of her responsibilities as guardian of her sick mother. Dickinson was also treated for painful eye disease. After the mid-1860s, he rarely left the Homestead border. It was also around ther time, from the late 1850s to the mid-60s, that Dickinson was most productive as a poet, creating a small collection of verses known as fascicles without the awareness of her family members.

Emily Dickinson has many works of poetry that she has made, the number of poems reached hundreds. Then Dickinson died on May 15, 1886, in Amherst due to kidney disease. After she died, her work began to be known and published in 1890. On ther occasion I will discuss one of the works of poetry from Emily Dickinson namely I’m ‘wife’ -I’ve finished that. In my opinion, ther poem tells about the difference in freedom of women when they are married and before marriage.

DISCUSSION

In Emily Dickinson’s poetry, in my opinion, the work uses a feminist approach to marriage. we know that Emily Dickinson is not married, but she can show the reader, how the situation of women when they are married and before marriage.

I’m ‘wife’—I’ve finished that—

That other state—

I’m Czar—I’m ‘Woman’ now—

It’s safer so—

How odd the Girl’s life looks

Behind ther soft Eclipse—

I think that Earth feels so

To folks in Heaven—now—

Ther being comfort—then

That other kind—was pain—

But why compare?

I’m ‘Wife’! Stop there!

Then in the first stanza, Emily wants to show that if she becomes a wife she will complete all the responsibilities that she does. And to compare what women and men cannot do, and Emily wants to show the inequality of men and women. Woman just like woman, and the word ‘Wife’, it’s like the author try says that women like ‘Eclipse’ in the second line. I think, based on her, it is natural for ‘women’ to stop at ‘wives’ because as a wife a woman must go with her husband. Not freedom like they are women who can do everything without other people’s intervention. A woman can be a ‘Tsar’, but a ‘wife’ only becomes a wife with a husband as her worship. And often we see wife intimidation by her own husband in their home. Her life will be dominated by her own husband.

Emily was not married, but what was perhaps the most poignant and more important was not her ignorance and bitterness towards the country of marriage but, after the girl, there was only marriage, and because she was not married, who was she? Ther is about identity. The ‘Ther is safer so’ line indicates that he believes that having a label, being ‘typical’, ‘normal’, etc. Must be ‘safer’ and safer than her own identity. He experienced flux because he had never been married and never had the power of men who dominated in her life, except her constant problems with religion/belief, of course, dominated by men at that time.

Emily was not married, but what was probably the most poignant and more important was not her ignorance and bitterness towards the country of marriage but, after the girl, there was only marriage, and because she was not married, who was she? Ther is about identity. The ‘Ther is safer so’ line indicates that he believes that having a label, being ‘typical’, ‘normal’, etc. Must be ‘safer’ and safer than her own identity. He experienced flux because he had never been married and never had the power of men who dominated in her life, except her constant problems with religion/belief, of course, dominated by men at that time.

In the second stanza, Emily called the marriage ‘eclipse’ of the woman, though gentle because of her feelings of dissatisfaction but culturally required to get married. The inequality of men and women is clearly shown by the changes experienced by women since childhood: ‘women’ become women: ‘Wives’ are marked with ‘Eclipse’. Dickinson plays like a feminist. He said it was better to be ‘a woman’ than ‘a wife.’ Once you realize ther, you will see things like the dead see life on earth. But perhaps, he points out that the natural development of a girl’s life is from a desire to get married in a ‘gentle eclipse’, almost like he sees marriage as a sanctuary from pain. In ther line, he compares the one-married problem with the earth-heaven scenario. Being single is represented by ‘hard’ life and the reality of the earth and the lives of married women compared to being in ‘Heaven.’

In another statement from Grace in the United States, Emily Dickinson did not find security by being a woman, but her insecurity. He does not want to be a wife or a woman and put these words in quotes because they look strange when compared to him. Ther is related to her family life too because her father did not expect a woman to be anything and Emily refused the identity of her mother who insisted in her poems that she was an orphan in herself. In ther poem, he fantasizes that he is entering a kind of marriage, but he seems to almost mock him.

The same and insecure status also applies to widows. They also throughout hertory have unstable status. Of course, ‘wife’ is really the only job for a woman outside of childhood, and there must be some bitterness and regret, but maybe bitterness is worth it. She has no social identity other than an old servant and no woman who wants to adopt that title is often a point of mercy or ridicule.

And most certainly, I think he does not want to be a wife and I think he thinks to maintain some sort of identity he must be a hermit, but there is a feeling of lack of identity when not a wife and not a girl. It is a pity he is nothing more than someone who likes to challenge social challenges.

The last stanza describes Emily’s feelings in marriage. He said that marriage, on the other hand, would be a consolation because he showed that the natural development of a girl’s life from the desire to get married in a ‘gentle eclipse’, was almost like she saw marriage as a place of refuge from pain, but the pain was paramount. another type. Ther verse begins with the phrase ‘Ther soothing creature / other types of pain,’ these two lines send mixed signals that show that married life is ultimately not painful or vice versa.

The pain comes from household reality. How do couples, men and women, will unite their desires, their habits and their goals in a nation. And when they can’t put it together, there will be problems that threaten their households. Sometimes, one will dominate the other. In ther case, we always see that the woman is the oppressed party.

Emily was not satisfied with married life, and that is why he keeps comparing himself when he says ‘why to compare?’ from the beginning to the end of the poem, and the last line ‘I am’ Wife ‘! Stop there!’ It almost sounded like the voice of the person who ordered it. However, he ends in a sarcastic tone: With independence comes to pain, so it’s natural for women to stop at ‘Wife.’

He ended the poem with a positive tone about marriage by saying that there was no need to compare the two scenarios because he was now a ‘Wife.’ Here again, he uses the word ‘wife’ to represent her status. For me, it shows that he was trying to mock a sexist society in the mid-19th century.

CONCLUSION

As we analyze in the section above, we know that in ther poem Emily Dickinson wants to present a very complicated approach to marriage. In the first 3 lines, he shows a pre-marital opinion, but the last he writes an ironic message that mocks the norms of society in the mid-19th century for urging women to marry.

He wanted to show that marriage to girls was like a ‘soft eclipse’. Marriage will provide a safer life for the girls who are demanded of them and in the end, will not be hurt, or vice versa will cause them pain.

I think ther poem was presented to mock nineteenth-century sexist societies to pressure girls to marry, have families, have children and have unique lifestyles.

REFERENCES

1. https://genius.com/Emily-dickinson-im-wife-ive-finished-that-199-annotated

In the poem “Song of myself” it appear lots of examples of powerful visual images; the author, Walt Whitman, shows a noticeable capacity to create them. Like an artistic painter, he develops his great capacity of observation. As a result, their poems display extended metaphorical landscapes, full of places and people. This wide range of images is a way to depict their democratic ideas. We can find diverse type of images in the poem: “spear of summer grass”, “the grass is itself a child” as the personification of people; “every atom of my blood”, “the mother laps” as symbols of the life support; “the flag of my disposition”, ”the handkerchief of the Lord”, as visual metaphors. Are also noticeable the oxymoron´s inclusion in their “catalogues”: “I am old and young”, “Southern and Northern”, “learner and teacher”. These rhetorical figures, which could not be appropriately defined as images, have anyway an unquestionable visual impact. The image “the grass that grows whenever the land” has a central meaning in the poem, as a representation of people on the surface of the hearth. The subversive approach of the W.W.´s poem could be guess in the following sentences: “the past and present wilt” “my next fold of the future”, including a simile in each one.

The images used by W.W. could be considered as quite clear to understand, according with his aim to be read by a wide range of people. Most of them are close to, or related to, the nature. Despite the images come from personal feelings they seem to be addressed to everyone. The author seems to have a noticeable interest in spread his ideas, in a confident and optimistic way.

In my opinion, in a country like the United States, the images related to landscape have a big impact on the people´s inner life; in some way, all the American civilization is a westward expansion through a wide and wild landscape.

In Emily Dickinson´s poem “I taste a liquor never brewed” the meaning of the extended metaphor is (by contrast with the W.W.´s one) not easy to find. In a first sight it could be understood like a blowing up of joy, probably due to the features showed by the nature in spring or summer (“…endless summer days”), verse that includes an hyperbole, suggesting the image of a long and bright day. A more accurate analysis allows us to perceive that the poem could refer to transcendental experiences, like those of Emerson. The poet voice creates an extended metaphor around to the ideas of inebriation, full of images (“”Not all the vats upon the Rhine…”, “Out of the Foxglove´s door – When Butterflies renounce their dreams” ). The last stanza includes symbols of Divinity (“Till Seraphs showing their snowing Hats – And Saints… against the -Sun-”). It is remarkable, in my opinion that, in the case of E.D., in contrast with the case of W.W.´s poem, the images appear one into the other, like in a Russian box. The poem provokes a noticeable interest, partly because the need to reach his hidden meaning.

E.D. has an intimate style that contrasts with the W.W.´s one; it seems more a self meditation about feelings that a depiction of ideas and opinions (in fact the author was not very interested in the publication of her poems).

As a conclusion, I could say that the images in the W.W. poem lead the reader to a sense of exultation and community with all the mankind, felt in an optimistic way. By the other hand, the images of the E.D. poem provoke, in my opinion, a close empathy with the author feelings, depicted through a veil of uneasiness.

mily Dickinson, an early 19th century American poet, can be regarded as the most influential, and frankly the most important poet to ever grace the American poetry landscape. Writing as a woman in an ever growing patriarchal society, Dickinson laid out the framework for many young women to express their words, feelings, and thoughts in a brand new discourse unbeknownst before. Never shying fraying away from difficult topics, such as death, sex, and marriage, she highlights a different aspect of life that sets her apart out from most poets. While she lived an introverted and isolated life which affected her poems and writing style, her works as well ruptured the boundaries between women’s and men’s traditional writing style. Along with this, she also mixed up her individuality with her traditional self which gives her poems a certain uniqueness. With Dickinson’s connection to her daily life into the poems she writes and feminist writing style, she allows the reader to interpret the emotions she’s feeling at the time, and to find a deeper meaning with her use of poetic devices, specific word choices, and eloquent writing style. By doing this, does Dickinson not only call to action the role of women in everyday life, but the patriarchal construct we are living in today.

In a time where women were held to the confinements of the general male belief that women should stay home, and tend to the man, many women sought to break away. Dickinson broke these social conventions with her unique poetry and writing, speaking out on the women’s role and feminist aspects. In a critical essay written by Shira Wolosky titled, “Public and Private in Dickinson’s war poetry,” she states that, “Dickinson’s modesty, even while it conforms in many aspects with expected and prescribed female behavior, does so with such extremity as to expose and radicalize gender norms” (170). This can be seen in a multitude of Dickinson’s works, such as

“We outgrow love like other things”. In this poem, Dickinson writes,

We outgrow love like other things

And put it in the drawer,

Till it an antique fashion shows

Like costumes grandsires wore (1-4).

Women were taught during this time to conceal all feelings they had, and to not express them in any means. This poem addressing this during the time was even a stretch, as it even concerned the topic when she outlined, “We outgrow love like other things / And put it in the drawer”. By challenging these beliefs, Dickinson calls to action standardized gender beliefs and the way in which people perceive them. With this statement it becomes clear to readers that Dickinson not only writes these poems for her own enjoyment, but for her own good, outlining her thoughts in a time in which they were confined by the greater man.

Another way in which Dickinson highlights controversial roles of women in society is when she highlights the stereotypical view of society about women and beauty: beauty is the only “truth” for women to please everyone. Dickinson expressed her thoughts on this when she said,

He questioned softly why I failed?

‘For beauty,’ I replied.

‘And I for truth,–the two are one;

We brethren are,’ he said (5-8).

Dickinson herself was very plain in real-life and did not imagine captivating women as a definition of beauty. Rather, she believed in the beauty that is the truth expressed in words, such as her own poetry. In a review done by Dedman School of Law called “Appearance as a Feminist Issue”, it outlines, “appearance should be a source of pleasure, not of shame. Individuals should be able to make decisions about whether to enhance their attractiveness without being judged politically incorrect or professionally unacceptable” (709). When Dickinson states that beauty and truth are one, it leaves it implied that her own beauty is comprised by her own thoughts on herself, not being shaped by the people around her. By pointing out that women themselves only have the power to define their own beauty, it questioned a greater belief that was always standardized by the dominant male discourse. The “man” defined women’s beauty during this time as a loyal companion tending to their needs, have it being at home, taking care of the kids, or doing chores for their well being. Instead, Dickinson questioned this belief, setting the notion that women were the only person to determine their “beauty”.

In some of Dickinson’s works, her messages are not always stated explicitly, but instead implied under a greater meaning. For example in a famous poem written by Dickinson herself titled, “Because I could not stop for Death”, she states,

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me –

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility – (1-8).

By stating the dominant male character in her writing as “He”, she sets the characterization between the male, and death itself. She goes further to state how “he knew no haste and I had put away my labor and leisure”, to further deepen the meaning of gender norms during the time, and how men have standardized women’s practices around themselves, “for His civility”. By not only incorporating the capitalized pronouns strengthen the dominant male figure, but the way in which she states it brings home the fact how women have tended to the man for too long, setting themselves back in the process. In a analysis done by Emily Rasch, looking at feminism within Dickinson’s writing, she found that, “…the general consensus is that death, in this case, is a symbol of marriage lasting for an eternity. From a feminist perspective, this would be an eternity of living in a world focused around the patriarchy” (230-231). Dickinson never let herself become under the “chains” that marriage entailed, as she never wanted to become confined by the man. She instead was fine with being a single women in a time where you needed a man to be successful, and “provide” for yourself. She outlined these thoughts setting the precedent that many young feminists believe today, in which you don’t need the man to be successful, but instead just yourself.

Another message in which Dickinson attempts to convey within her writing is highlighting the patriarchal dominance in which she lived in at the time. Women were dominated in most senses, from their social life to work life, they had no freedom to say what they believed. Dickinson often spoke out on this dominance, and in a poem called “They shut me up in Prose” she states,

“They shut me up in Prose–

As when a little Girl

They put me in the Closet –

Because they liked me “still”” (1-4).

By leaving “They” implicit, it allows the reader to connect that Dickinson is talking about the “man” or the patriarchal society. She states that they “shut” her up from when she was a little girl, putting her in the “closet”. Through stating this does Dickinson not only connect the social confinements that women lived in during the time, but also the mental confinements, by controlling their thoughts from young ages to their own beliefs. Dickinson not only wrote this piece as a sort of call to action against the dominant patriarchy, but also a form of rebellion, questioning their beliefs on a broader scale. This dominance can be researched even father into modern day as a study titled, “Patriarchy and Women’s Subordination: A Theoretical Analysis”, done by PhD Abeda Sultana states that, “patriarchal institutions and social relations are responsible for the inferior or secondary status of women. Patriarchal society gives absolute priority to men and to some extent limits women’s human rights also” (Sultana 5). Sultana recognizes that women have become a second class to men as a whole, even limiting women’s human rights. Not only did Dickinson warn of this two-hundred years prior, but she spoke out during a time in which was looked down upon. This fact alone speaks to the volume her poetry had, influencing feminist theory today, and beginning to bridge the gap between men’s and women’s rights.

With speaking out on on major societal gaps between men and women, Dickinson also highlighted the societal view on religion, and a call to reform on that as well. From an early age Dickinson rejected conventional faith, and disagreed with the Puritan beliefs that her society withheld. Exploring the key ideas in her religious poetry such as death, the Bible, and nature of God, she passionately protests against the misogynist values that religion withholds. She condemns the constricting feminine values of domesticity and submissiveness and also the denial of freedom to woman, which the orthodox religion upholds. This can be seen in one of her poems titled, “The Bible is antique Volume” where she states,

The Bible is an antique Volume–

Written by faded Men

At the suggestion of Holy Spectres

Not to be Trusted (1-4).

Through stating that the Bible is “an antique written by faded Men”, it brings to light two major aspects of religion. One being that religion has been formed by men themselves, and the other being timely out of date. Noticing that the Bible was constructed by men themselves, it sets the construct that women have been constrained by their ties since the earliest written time. Dickinson notices the flaw in this with writing “not to be trusted”, as she sees how divine truths could have been manipulated for men to maintain a natural supremacy over women. In a book titled, Religion, Feminism, and Freedom of Conscience by George Smith he states that,

The real question is, do not the same considerations apply to women in religious institutions? There are some religions today that believe that women should serve in the pulpit to the same extent as men; that the viewpoints of women are entitled to be heard; that their freedoms should be protected and encouraged; other religions deny this (53).

Smith explores the ideas similarly to Dickinson, but in a more modern sense. He realizes that while men do things, why can’t women do the same things in a religious context. Not only were Dickinson’s thoughts on topics such as this ahead of her time, but her analysis and response to them more helpful and impactful on feminism and people today.

Feminists such as Dickinson often consider marriage and sex as the two vital spheres that manifest the subjugation and exploitation of woman by man. Radical feminists believe that a patriarchal husband enslaves woman to domesticity, dependency and motherhood and also deprives her of individuality, self definition, equal dignity and liberty. These major themes can be seen in Dickinson’s writing, where she often outlines marriage and the negative outcomes that can come from it. This can be seen in her poem, “Title divine, is mine” where she states,

Title divine, is mine.

The Wife without the Sign –

Betrothed, without the Swoon

God gives us Women –

Born – Bridalled – Shrouded –

‘My Husband’ – Women say – (1-6).

With this poem, Dickinson interlinks the aspects of death and marriage by stating “Born – Bridalled – Shrouded” and implying how marriage can overtake the women for a grimly “shrouded” end. She also implies with this writing the role of religion, and how that can play a role into women’s role in a relationship, turning them into the subservient caretaker of the man. In a book written by Philippa Levine titled, “So Few Prizes and So Many Blanks”: Marriage and Feminism in Later Nineteenth-Century England, it states that, “for women, marriage and its effects permeated every aspect of their daily existence and shifted the focus of their emotion and social contacts” (150). Levine comes to agree with Dickinson’s point of view about the controlling nature in which marriage can possess over an individual, feeling oppressive at times. This fact while true during Dickinson’s time period, has become ever more prevalent in today’s society as a greater wave of feminism has swept over the world. Women can now succeed one their own, without the subjugation of the male figure in their everyday life. This can all be drawn back to Dickinson and her work, setting a new notion and societal construct on women’s role.

Along with marriage, Dickinson often brings up the theme of sex within her writing as a sense of empowerment for women during the early nineteenth century. Women during the time were led to feel ashamed of their sexuality, condemned upon by the patriarchy they lived in. While her societal construct condemned this “taboo”, Dickinson found great gratification writing on it. In a poem titled, “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!”, Dickinson states,

Wild Nights – Wild Nights!

Were I with thee

Wild Nights should be

Our luxury! (1-4).

With the saying “Wild Nights – Wild Nights!” Dickinson connects this to sexual passions within the women herself, having it be a “luxury” of sorts. This repressed sexuality within the women alludes to a greater sense of sexual fulfillment women wanted during the time, but could not receive. In a book titled, What Ought To Be and What Was: Women’s Sexuality in the Nineteenth Century, written by Carl Degler, it states that, “the nineteenth century was afraid of sex, particularly when it manifested itself within women. Women were taught not to enjoy sex, rather when young girls asked their mothers what they should do on their wedding night, the mother advised ‘Lie there and think of the Empire’” (1467). Sex was dominated by the patriarchy that ruled over them, setting the precedent that women should not only not enjoy sex, but do it “for the Empire”.

The study of Emily Dickinson’s poems has revealed the woman poet not only as the representative woman’s voice of the nineteenth century but also as a formidable literary figure of the female literary tradition. Her poetry reflects a unique female creative voice that expresses woman’s issues with such ingenuity that has never been manifested earlier in women writers’ works before her times. Dickinson explores woman’s viewpoint in her poems questioning and challenging society’s cultural and religious definitions that repress woman. Thus, her poems exhibit the feminist strand before feminism and pave the way of the flowering of feminism in the literary works of great modern women writers. The feminist perspective explored in Dickinson’s poetry revolutionizes the conventional conception of women’s writing and revises patriarchal hierarchies.

Everyone has a different story, no one life is exactly the same and this contributes to the different influences we will have in our lives. Emily Dickinson known as one of America’s greatest poets lived quite an interesting life and her life greatly influenced her work. Born in Amherst Massachusetts, Emily Dickson was born into a family with strong ties to the community, she studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years and briefly attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary and returned back to her home. After that she lived a simple life in isolation. The philosophical poets of the seventeenth century and her reading of the bible specifically the Book of Revelation mainly influenced her work. Additionally, her background and growing up in a Puritan town in New England greatly influenced the majority of her work, she was also encouraged by an orthodox, conservative way to Christianity. Emily Dickinson lived a hard life and suffered psychological sicknesses, she lived at a time when women were not supposed to have talents in writing thus what she achieved was considered exemplary. There were many things that influenced her work and we can see her life experiences reflected in things such as language, stylistic characteristics, and themes she used.

Emily Dickinson lived a simple life in isolation. “Her family had strong feelings about being loyal to each other thus explaining why Emily chose to isolate herself from the rest of the world” (Farr, 3). Just like John Keats Emily was passionate in her living despite living in her seclusion and among only friends and family her work exhibited whole hearted intensity in thought and it was reflected in the quality of her work as well. Her life experiences affected her style of writing in terms of the language, stylistic devices and the themes she adopted. In the process of looking for things in her heart, Emily not only distilled inessential language but also distilled some of the punctuations in her poems. The majority of her poems were characterized by left out auxiliary verbs and some connecting words while in others Emily would drop her endings from nouns and even verbs. Some of her poems had pronouns which were not clear with some words that would not be in the poem at all. However, she does that to achieve certain impacts through compressed language. Also she disregarded rules of grammar and sentence structures making her work appealing in the modern poetic world. Indeed, the exclusion of certain words could be attributed to her seclusion from people (Charyn 43). Thus, one danger of her seclusion was that she might have begun creating meanings of words privately which other people may not know. As a result, instead of communicating these words often baffles and makes it challenging for readers. She also enjoyed words for their sake such as “Pain has an element of blank” or Hope is the thing with feathers” which gave her poems their forms.

By choosing to live within her home Emily brought her life into a sharp focus which meant she had chosen to live within the expanses of her imagination which she was very much aware and described in one of her poems and said “I dwell in possibility” (Wolff and Betty, 7). The small circle within which she enjoyed life meant she had to live without certain things but through that she redefined deprivation since had she got love, or faith then better understanding would not have been achieved. She says “heaven is what I cannot reach” while words such as “Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed” (Wolff and Betty, 99). It is through irony, ambiguity and paradox that she explained her experiences with her poems filled with small animals like bees, domestic items and winter lights which were materials she could see within the confined house of her father.

In explaining her inner world Emily uses drama to explain her inner consciousness with such case being when she describes the danger of loneliness she faced. She says “the depths in every consciousness from which we cannot rescue ourselves—to which none can go with us” (Lettere, 1878). Another common theme in her poems is death which she personifies in her poems such as suitor and tyrant which was a result of Puritan belief which she held from her upbringing. God and religion themes were concerns throughout Emily’s life. Since her childhood during school days Emily had a family that tried to give her a sense of being saved but she never felt that call which caused her disquiet and pain. As a result themes of God and religion in her poems showed friendliness to God sometimes and other times anger and bitterness such as “Heaven fumbles at your spirit” “Heaven is what I cannot reach” (Goddu 4-18).

Emily’s poetry work is a true reflection of the life she had been brought up in ranging from her family who strictly followed Puritan culture to her isolation which gave her time to write and reflect on her work. Indeed, there were many things that influenced her work and we can see her life experiences reflected in things such as language, stylistic characteristics, and themes she used. In terms of language Emily would disregard certain words indicating the life of loneliness she had experienced while she used irony, ambiguity and paradox styles to explain her experiences within her surroundings. Her work was filled with life experience themes such as inner consciousness, death, love and religion.

“McMurphy: She likes a rigged game. You know what I mean?” My coursework will outline and focus on the similarities and differences that both the Author Ken Keesey (one flew over the cuckoo’s nest) and Poet Emily Dickinson comment on in terms of power. The idea of power can be separated by two key features in both works, one being the power of society, and the other being the power of gender.

Both of these key themes address issues around the society of the times, as well as the backgrounds and lives of both artists. I intend to use books, the internet and literary critics (both contemporary and modern) to research and compose my coursework on my chosen subject.

The poems of Emily Dickinson focus mainly on the idea of one’s own society, ‘I took my power in my hand’ (540), talks about one’s own conflict with society. This may have been written in persona, however there is no evidence to support this claim. The first stanza is a reflection on the voice’s actions, to which the voice compares with the story of David and Goliath from the Bible. This allusion increases the intensity of the task and therefore is a metaphor that also creates imagery of the size of the conflict. The metaphor makes the inequality of power seem almost insurmountable. There is capitalisation of the words ‘World’ ‘Hand’ and ‘Power’ within the first stanza. The words ‘Hand’ and ‘Power’ inform the reader of the voice’s personal strength and ability. From numerous biographies of Emily Dickinson it is noted that she did not take part in The Second Great Awakening that swept across America. Dickinson was a member of the Calvinist Church, and the Second Awakening created a more optimistic view of the church’s belief; in addition to the more liberal views that reformed the church. The church also embraced more roles for white women to have, as well as including a higher number of African American members. This Poem may be based on Dickinson’s own feelings when the Second Awakening required her to pronounce herself ‘saved’. However, she abstained from this choice as she felt independent in her own religious beliefs. The use of the word ‘World’ helps to set the scene of the poem for the reader, in addition to being the ‘task’ that the voice has to defeat. The world is the voice’s Goliath, and it is representative of the enormity of the fight. The second stanza is a reflection on the voice’s failure to defeat the ‘World’. The capitalisation of ‘pebble’ is symbolic of the solution that the voice uses to try to end the conflict. This is ironic, as within the story of David and Goliath, David defeats Goliath successfully using the pebble. Therefore, this poem cannot form a valid link to the Bible story. It is rather a story in reference to the ‘majority’, the society in which Dickenson lives and feels forced to validate her beliefs within. This poem links to Kesey as the minority is never being able to defeat the majority. This is reminiscent of the fight between the patients of the Asylum and Nurse Rattchet; to whom the pebble is McMurphy.

The psychiatric ward in ‘One Flew Over’ can be seen as a microcosm of society. Society is presented as an efficient machine, being referred to as the Combine, that makes everyone conform to its narrow rules. All individuality is removed from the patients, and the natural, joyful expressions of life are suppressed. In the hospital ward, the representative of society is the Big Nurse, Nurse Ratchet. She embodies order, efficiency, repression, including sexual repression, slavery and tyranny. She fulfils the need of society to somehow “repair” those who do not subscribe to its model. This means they can then be sent back to take their places as cogs in the great machine. If they refuse or resist, they are destroyed by invasive, abusive treatments such as electric-shock therapy and brain surgery such as lobotomy. Bromden introduces the idea of the combine within the novel. He informs the reader of his life away from the combine as ‘broken’. He was born into an Indian tribe and he recalls hunting in the woods and fishing for salmon as a boy. However, the Indians’ independent way of life was destroyed by the greed of white society This society took their land and used it to install a hydroelectric dam. After a technological work force had been trained to manage the new facilities, the men lost all their individuality to the workings of the combine. They all conformed to the same standardized model and became in Bromden’s view, only half alive. Chief Bromden associates’ power with literal size, for example Nurse Rattchet is referred to as the ‘big’ Nurse, and when she gets angry, she swells up larger and larger. This is an indication that Bromden feels small within himself, and within the asylum society. This is a clear indication to the reader, of the manipulative ways of the nurse, McMurphy states within the novel ‘All I know is this: nobody’s very big in the first place, and it looks to me like everybody spends their whole life tearing everyone else down.” The critic Terence Martin States ‘it is a central insight for the unsophisticated McMurphy – and one of the truest and generally applicable statements in the novel.’

Throughout the novel Bromden feels smaller than everyone else, and this may be due to the repressive nature of the ‘big’ nurse, and therefore effects the gender bias that controls the majority of this book. This fear of women instilled within Bromden, Harding and Billy Bibbit, come as a result of them being surrounded by powerful women, ‘ball cutters’ as McMurphy quotes. Their one job in life is to emasculate the men around them and consume their power. This maybe a reflection on the growing fear of the feminist movement, which was enhanced by the creation and relaxed use of birth control, allowing women to have greater independence from men. This was against the ‘bohemian lifestyle that Kesey and ‘The Merry Pranksters’ believed in where the perfect woman was ‘pregnant, barefoot and in the kitchen’. This would have allowed women enough freedom whilst also being controlled by the patriarchal society they lived within.

The subject of societal segregation is suggested in Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘The soul selects her own society.’ The word ‘Soul’ is interpreted within Dickinson’s work as a reference to herself, the poet. The distinction between her own personal life and the life of greater society is abstract, as they are reflective of one another. The personal society is a statement of one’s own company or singularity; which creates an abstract view on the way in which society is defined, while the ‘Divine majority’ could be a reference to her own society in Amherst Massachusetts. The selection of her own society references her objection to the Second Great Awakening and therefore her experience of the truth. The use of the words ‘Shutting the door’ is the voice shutting out the pressures and assumptions of society. This may also be a reference to her being a recluse and therefore shutting everyone else out. The word ‘Divine’ increases the status of the souls within the ‘society’ and therefore shows the reader of the lower status in which the voice finds itself. However, there is strength to be found in the task of ‘shutting the door’ and in addition to this motion, the voice gains ‘fame’ from doing so. “Unmoved – she notes the chariot’s pausing… emperor is kneeling Upon her mat.” The imperial lexus used such as ‘chariots’ and ‘emperor’ show the elevated status of the voice once they have rejected their counterparts and understood the importance of making one’s own choice. Dickinson suggests within this poem that the individual is absolute, and an individual’s rights are unchallengeable; the soul is assured of its own identity.

Harding in ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ uses the analogy of the patients being rabbits and people such as Nurse Ratchet being wolves. The reason the rabbits have been placed within the asylum is because they cannot adjust to be a rabbit in the real world. This analogy explains the social segregation that links to the theme of repression throughout the book. The power of the wolves is created due to them ‘devouring the weak’; this is recognisable as something Nurse Ratchet does in her day to day running of the ward. The word devouring creates an image of gluttony and the image that the ingestion of power is satisfying. The anecdote also introduces the idea of hereditary power, that you are born powerful or you are born weak; and therefore, those that are born weak must be taught by the powerful how to survive. Within the introduction it is commented that Nurse Ratchet “her lack of sensuality represents a puritanical society’s fear of what they cannot control”

The novel was written near to the beginning of Cold War tensions between The USSR and The United States. It is commented that control defined the Cold War and ‘institutional conformity became a most popular subject of the most widely acclaimed fiction’. Kesey was writing to both please readers around America, in addition to commenting on a society which was fearful of anything ‘unamerican’. In the 1950’s psychiatry reached its peak and it became common for doctors to separate the mentally ill from society. This segregation allowed patients to be exploited which gave medical professionals increased power and authority which they subsequently abused.

Bromden is a complicated narrator, the reader is fully aware of his ability to be deceptive through his pretence of being deaf and dumb and therefore it would be sensible to question his ‘reality’. It is however the most honest account of the ward, and therefore it is in the readers best interest to take each of Bromden’s conclusions as truth. Chiefs account of the fog in part one, in addition to the floating chairs on page 115, are all illusions created by his illness. It is made exclusive at the beginning of the book that Bromden is a Paranoid Schizophrenic, a mental illness that causes abnormal behaviour and hallucinations which decrease one’s ability to understand reality. Bromden’s accounts of reality are created in his mind, to which the reader is aware of when one of the night watchmen tell him he is having a bad dream; this confirms that the incidents occur only in chiefs mind. However, the hallucinations help to convey the trauma and suffering that is happening on the ward. McMurphy changes the way in which Bromden narrates, this is through the immensely clearer depiction of events, chief finds confidence in McMurphy and acts using his strength. Throughout the majority of the book, Bromden feels ‘small’ due to the near total control in which he is subject to from the ‘Big Nurse’, McMurphy helps to ‘grow’ him. “man has but one truly effective weapon against the juggernaut of modern matriarchy, but it certainly is not laughter. One weapon, and with every passing year in this hip, motivationally researched society, more and more people are discovering how to render that weapon useless and conquer those who have hitherto been conquerors.’ Throughout the book, Keysey openly shares a misogynistic view on society, this quote directly states that the matriarchy can only be overthrown if conquer their oppressors through their penis’. Male sexuality within the novel is sanity, and therefore the repression of the male sexual needs is what causes the matriarchy to established repression within the ward. This is evident in the character of Billy Bibbit, to which his phycological problems are embodied as a stutter; ”Fir-first stutter? First stutter? The first word I said I st-stut-tered: m-m-m-m-mam-ma,” The reader can clearly analyse that Billy’s problems have arised due to his instilled fear of the matriarchy. Billy’s is completely infantilised by mother, who wants to keep him completely dependent on her, and therefore is referenced as a ‘ball- cutter’ due to her emasculating ways that keep her thirty-one-year-old son a virgin. After Billy is discovered in bed with Candy, he speaks without a stutter for the first time; in addition to the effrontery way in which he speaks to Ratchet when she tries to shame him back into subservience; this shows the reader that he has gained power and his manhood after losing his virginity. After this introduction of power, Billy commits suicide, a completely independent decision, which creates a catalyst to the final conflict between Ratchet and McMurphy.

Dickinson was growing up in a predominaly male society, I which women were actively discouraged from the literary arts and pushed into being an accommodating housewife. In 1859, Charles Darwin published his ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’ which helped to question the assistance of God. This opposition to the existence of the transcendental world gave a justification to her renouncement to be obedient to God; this foundation layer by Darwin helped Dickinson to see the language and words as the poets own. This gave her the freedom to write and be peculiar in her work, for example the use of dashes, where there is no evidence for a meaning. This revelation gave Dickinson the power to write, even though the society dominated by men wouldn’t allow her to publish the all of her works bar seven. The patriarchal society was no obstacle of Dickinson as she used writing as an expression of her thoughts and feelings, in particular the power of society. ‘I gave myself to him’ is a comment on marriage, in which women gives herself in order for financial and socioeconomic gain and therefore their husband is only a customer. In “Emily Dickinson and Popular Culture”, David S. Reynolds, a new historicism critic, wrote that “it’s no surprise that the majority of Dickinson’s poetry was produced between 1858-1866, It was a period of extreme consciousness about proliferation of varied women’s role in American culture. It was a time where women were actively searching for more “literary” ways of self-expression”. Within ‘I gave myself’ the line ‘some found it mutual gain; sweet debt of Life,” this line shows the ways in which women and men make a mutual agreement to marry on the terms of socioeconomic gain, a ‘sweet debt’ that is paid in sexual penance, to which both partys partake. The 1850s, when Dickinson was in her early twenties, saw a grave change in American society. The supreme court, ruled that a slave moved to a free state, never ceased to be a slave, despite residing in a free state, they then denied him citizenship in addition to denying him the sue. The growing abolitionist movement caused a slow development on the diversity of America, these changes especially focused in the north of the country. The abolitionist movement has no clear link to the life of Dickinson; however the tensions would meet at the conflict of the Civil war. Her brother, too scared to join the war, paid a conscript to take his place, however great friends of the poet such as Thomas Higgins lead the first black regiment in the Union Army. These conflicts created an ever-stronger patriarchal society, and therefore the subjects such as poetry and literature, became an ever increasing ‘mans’ subject. Dickinson fights these societal boundaries and continued to write until her death, to which thousands of poems were found. Her increasing rejection of the confines of society, makes her poetic ambition clear to the reader, she ‘took her power in her hands’ and became a prominent figure in the literary world after her death.

The Story Of My Search

When I was reading about Emily Dickinson’s life and reading her poems, they caught my eye because her life was so much more different than everyone else’s lives. Her poetry was very different and interesting and I wanted to learn more about it. “Emily Dickinson is one of America’s greatest and most original poets of all time. She took definitions as her province and challenged the existing definitions of poetry and the poets work.” (Emily Dickinson, pg.1) This made me wonder; “Why did Emily Dickinson choose to live her life the way she did and why did she write poetry the way she did?”

Before I researched I already knew that Emily Dickinson kept her poetry private and that she isolated herself from the world. This topic is interesting to me because Dickinson’s poetry is interesting to read. Her lifestyle is also interesting to read about. I hope to learn why did she write poetry the way she did and why did she isolate herself from the people and the outside world.

I began by using inspire and found biographies of her life and found lots of great information about my topic. I found most of my information in biographies about her life on “go.galegroup” and printed out the sources. I began reading, highlighting, annotating and started paraphrasing. I ran into a few problems when I searched for Emily Dickinson’s poetry in the literature search but not a lot of sources came up that could’ve helped me in my research process.

The Result Of My Search

According to the article “Emily Dickinson’s Biography” (Emily Dickinson), Emily Dickinson was a famous writer and poet she was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst Massachusetts. She left school when she was a teenager. She lived life on a family homestead. While she was there she secretly made bundles of poetry and wrote hundreds of letters. Her grandfather Samual Dickinson was the founder of Amherst College. Dickinson was a great student at Amherst college for a few years then she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary then after a year she left. Dickinson was sent a poetry book from one of her influences Leonard Humphrey, who was the principal of Amherst college. People began to make assumptions about Dickinson that she had depression, anxiety, and agoraphobia because she had to take care of her sick mother. On May 15, 1886 at the age of 55 Emily Dickinson died of kidney disease in Amherst Massachusetts.

According to the source “Emily Dickinson” (go.galegroup), she spent most of her life writing a large amount of poems around 1,775 poems is what she wrote, but only ten of them were published in her lifetime. Dickinson sent over 102 poems to Thomas Wentworth Higginson he advised Emily Dickinson to study further but he never offered to publish one of the poems she sent to him. After Dickinson died her sister Lavinia sent her poems to be published and Dickinson’s poems sold very quickly. By the time Dickinson was a teenager she realized her father was the most important influence in her life. Dickinson’s mother was a simpler person dedicated to the home and family. “Like her mother she grew up thinking domestic duties as her responsibility but also demonstrated an early love as poetry.” (Emily Dickinson pg.2) Dickinson copied out poems from the newspapers and from her fathers collection in his library, trying to improve the original. In 1841 she started to attend Amherst college where she was studying French, Latin, History, Geology, Botany, and Philosophy. She became ill and didn’t have the best attendance, but still graduated in 1847. After she graduated and attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, she was homesick but soon adapted to the school and made new friends among the 300 girls at the school.

According to the source “Emily Dickinson” (biography in context) by the 1860s, Dickinson lived in almost complete isolation from the outside world and she only spent her time with family. Dickinson’s poems were influenced by metaphysical poets. She loved reading poetry by Robert Browning and Elizabeth Browning. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are now holders of the American poetic voices.

Reflections On My Search

Finding information about Emily Dickinson wasn’t to difficult to do. I’ve learned how to put together a research paper. Finding sources was easy for me. Coming up with a topic/question was the hardest part for me. Next time a write a research paper I will try to find better or more sources with lots of good information.

All in all, I found the answer to my research topic “why did Emily Dickinson choose to live her life the way she did and why did she write poetry the way she did?”. In Emily Dickinson life she isolated herself from the outside world because she was ill for some time and because she wanted to focus on her poetry and just spend time with family whenever she wasn’t writing her poetry. In her poetry, she had a different writing style and made up her own way to write her poetry. She wrote over 1,000 poems that way and they still got published and sold out quickly. People to this day still buy and read her poetry.

Works Cited

1. “Emily Dickinson Biography”, biography, A&E Television Networks, 2 Apr. 2014.
2. “Emily Dickinson”, edickinson, www.poetryfoundation.
3. “Emily Dickinson”, go.galegroup, 27 Mar. 2018, biography in context.
4. “Poet; Emily Dickinson”, Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org.

Poetry is a vessel for all to come together and enjoy a piece of writing, even if the reader does not know it is an actual or hidden meaning. Many writers over the century and many before have had their writing style from having a specific type of structure to free verse. An extraordinary poet, Emily Dickinson, had written almost 1.800 poems throughout her lifetime and is seen as The Mother of American Poetry. Many of her poems were what she was surrounded with. Love, death, nature, law, and religion are just a few subjects that were enveloped in her poems. She made American poetry what it is today, and has inspired so many other writers of this generation. The poem “Love reckons by itself — alone” is a great example of her uses of imagery, themes, the structure and form provided, as well as numerous literary devices throughout her writings.

In “Love reckons by itself — alone” she writes:

Love reckons by itself- alone-

“As large as I’- relate the Sun

To One who never felt it blaze-

Itself is all the like it has- (Dickinson, “Love Reckons by Itself- Alone” Lines 1-4)

Looking at the poem at face value, without even reading it, the poem has a specific structure. When referring to “I,” Emily Dickinson does not necessarily mean herself, but perhaps the reader or another person. She also uses enjambment as the poem progresses. Dickinson is known for her poems being difficult to assess and find any underlying meanings, but that does not, however, mean it is impossible. When Dickinson writes, “Love reckons by itself — alone” (Line 1), she gives her first introduction of the poem. Looking at the definition of the word “reckons” is put into a 3rd person format showing, grammatically, that she is not talking about herself, but another person, putting into question where the reader might stand. To reckon is to calculate or to regard and consider. In the poem, Dickinson is saying that Love is regarding only itself and nothing else. Love is nothing more or less than itself as nothing could live up to it.

The author continues, “‘As large as I’– relate the Sun” (Line 2). The sun is a star in the universe that Earth revolves around, just like the other planets and their moon revolve around themselves. The sun gives Earthlight and reveals the planet and its features. This line could suggest that the sun is alone too. In the night sky, in Emily Dickinson’s room at which she never left, they too both are alone in this world. The capitalization of the sun could mean of some importance. Alternatively, she is referring to herself as the sun, since she is turning it into its own being due to her capitalization. The reader is ‘I,’ and so the reader can somewhat relate to this feeling of being outcasted and alone. Even though the sun is alone, is this case Emily Dickinson, she is strong and full of life, given that is how Christianity views the sun, at which it has been found Dickinson includes religion at times in her poems as well.

“To One who never felt it blaze –” (Line 3). At this point, it seems as though Emily Dickinson is relating “it” as being the sun, when, however, “it” could be love. To a person or individual of importance, since “One” has been capitalized, they have never felt the blaze of love. This view goes back to what “the Sun” is in line 2. It is unclear whether Dickinson is the sun or the subject of love. If it is love, then that could relate to the sun shining the brightest and hard to capture.

The final line states, “Itself is all the like it has—” (Line 4). This shows how it goes back into the loneliness of the sun and love. Even though it is by itself, they both are strong, bright, and rare. There is nothing else like it. Dickinson is stating that love is as unique as the sun. Emily Dickinson is known for making her poems resemble puzzle pieces. She gives the reader the part of the poem, the devices, and the themes, but it is up to the reader to put it together, whether the author likes it or not, the readers are going to want more and are going to find a way to piece those puzzle pieces together.

Works Cited

1. Emily Dickinson Museum, emilydickinsonmuseum.org/poetry_characteristics.
2. Hale, Richard Ricky. “Sun Tattoos: Meanings, Pictures, Designs, and Ideas.” TatRing, TatRing, 15 Feb. 2019, tatring.com/tattoo-ideas-meanings/Sun-Tattoo-Designs-History-Meanings-and-Ideas-Tribal-And-Celtic-Sun-Designs-Sun-Symbolism.

Introduction

Readers may find that the way Dickinson wrote is very similar to the way that we text messages – the lines are short, broken, and sometimes as if they haven’t been organized well. The words are also quite clear and straightforward; the paradoxical language she used may make us confused, but it is also to some extent similar to the black humor we apply in modern communication, requiring some thinking to get the real meaning. Therefore, the same as how texting allures us, the light style of poems is no doubt reader-friendly, while there is also something hidden behind its clear, straightforward expression. When it comes to Dickinson’s deep meaning is hidden behind simple, straightforward diction, which is an embodiment of her personality and the collective unconsciousness of her time.

Personality

As Freud has said, a writer’s personality can be seen in his works of art. Personality is a crucial factor that contributed to Dickinson’s unique writing style. Abnormally shy and retiring, Dickinson led an inactive, inward life which she deliberately chose to lead so that she could achieve personal integrity. She spent her whole life in the small town of Amherst, and never married. Therefore, as a poetess who was a recluse, the range of Dickinson’s worldly experience was small by any standards. This isolated personality enabled her to see the world with more pristine eyes, and then write her words briefly and freshly.

Take the poem Again His Voice Is at the Door for example. It says We talk in venture and toss, a kind of plummet strain, each sounding shyly just how deep the other’s foot had been. It depicts the mutual surmise between a man and a woman. The literary figure may be purely imaginary, yet it displays her perception and expectation of love. These fresh and plain words function as a mirror of Dickinson’s inner world, reflecting her inner clarity as well as her spiritual unrest.

In addition, the creativity, sensitivity, and profundity of Dickinson’s personality make her works simple rather than childish. The diction is not complicated, and the theme is quite deep and thought-provoking. Take the poem There’s a Certain Slant of Light for example. In this poem, Dickinson associates the winter sunlight with the image of death: When it comes, the landscape listens, shadows hold their breath; when it goes, ’ tis like the distance on the look of death. Dickinson felt in awe and horror with the light fading, as if looking at death in the distance. A rough man cannot associate sunlight with death. The chances are that he won’t even notice the light since he isn’t the kind of sensitive person. It’s also hard for kids to make this connection. They are more likely to praise the beauty of the sunlight without thinking further since the theme of death is too heavy and distant for a young age. Only the sensitive and deep-thinking person can come up with this idea, exploring the meaning of human life from common occurrences.

Collective unconsciousness

Two forces influence the creation process of poets. One is the inner force of the poet, another is the internal force of his or her time. Just as Jung has said, art represents the collective unconsciousness of the artists, while artists unconsciously become its spokesmen or tools. As a poet, Dickinson is no doubt loyal to her thinking, while she is equally faithful to the era in which she lived.

Transcendentalism is an outstanding representative of the collective unconsciousness of that time. As a major factor affecting the creation of Dickinson, transcendentalism features self-reflection, respect for personality, and the internal relationship between nature and human beings. It also expresses the semi-religious ideas of nature, believing that there is a connection between the universe and the human soul. It’s easy to find clues that indicate the influence of transcendentalism in Dickinson’s works. In her poems, God exists in the natural form of trees, flowers, light, or darkness, which is justified by transcendentalism. The visual symbol of God’s spirit enriches her inner world and helps her release her feelings, making the lack of worldly experience compensated by her spiritual richness.

Still, take the poem There’s a Certain Slant of Light for example. In this poem, Dickinson described a depressive feeling a slant of winter sunlight gave her. The image Dickinson chose—— sunlight, was quite common, yet Dickinson regarded it as an embodiment of God’s Spirit. This association was typical of transcendentalism, making the originally common image rise from the mundane level to a higher, spiritual level. This association also helped Dickinson express her awareness of the human predicament and her spiritual unrest.

To sum up, transcendentalism freed Dickinson from the idea that confined human beings and enabled her to see herself as an individual with an identity. Instead of regarding God as an authority, she was able to talk to God, questioning the existence of the distant, untouchable God, which no doubt added profundity to her poems.

Conclusion

The charm of Dickinson’s poetry exists in its clean and simple style, as well as the deep meaning hidden behind the clear, straightforward expression. The unique combination of simple expression and profound meaning was an embodiment of Dickinson’s personality and the collective unconsciousness of her time. Her poetry is full of uncertainty and imagination, together with thought-provoking implications, that a person who hates rigidities and enjoys meditating is bound to be crazy in love with her masterpiece.

Reference

1. Johnson, Thomas H. ed. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson [M]. Oxford: the Alden Press, 1975.

Throughout history, women have fought for equality in areas such as politics, religion, careers… Specifically, women fight to be treated with respect and equality in criminal justice and law enforcement careers. The poem ‘I’m ‘Wife’ – I’ve Finished That’ by Emily Dickinson is analyzed using feminist criticism. Feminist criticism is a type of literary criticism which may study and encourage for the women right. The poem is about women’s roles and how society looks at them in reality.

“I’m ‘wife’—I’ve finished that—

That other state—

I’m Czar—I’m ‘Woman’ now—

It’s safer so—”.

‘I’m ‘Wife’ – I’ve Finished That’ is one of Emily Dickinson’s short poems, being only three stanzas, twelve lines, in length. The poem was written from a female perspective about a woman’s freedom before and after marriage. The author begins the poem by using “I’m ‘wife’”, even though in reality, she has not to get married yet. She almost uses her imagination to put herself in the marriage status. In lines 1-3, as we can see that she is not happy with the marriage. In her position, being a ‘wife’ looks more pressure than a ‘woman’. However, she believes that every girl needs to marriage one day to complete women. Once you are moving to the marriage status, you will have the ‘other state’ which is more complex. For me, I perceive that Emily wants us to understand that once you are getting married, you will enter another state which is much more responsible, much serious, and much stronger than you being a girl. Once you become a woman, you should forget the attitudes of being a girl, you have to mature and take care of your small family responsibly. This is may more pressure than being a small girl. However, a ‘woman’ can become ‘Czar’, but a ‘wife’ just only becomes a wife and lives with the husband as her adorable. Maybe you can feel happy with your marriage, maybe you will feel this is a sad event you did. Most of your emotions will be depended on your husband. In this poem, her life will be dominated by her husband. As her position, once you become a wife, you are considered as good as dead. Meanwhile, if you are a woman, you can be like a king and have full control of yourself. It is clear that there are pressures on becoming a wife, and the poetic voice is nervous that her life will become dominated by her husband after marriage. However, in the last line of the first stanza, she admits all of these feelings of being a woman is better than a wife, but the wife will be safer than women. It happens in contradictory. The author ridicules for this society which for imposing these stereotypical views on girls, pressuring them to get married. In my point of view, if you do not want to get married, you have to have a lot of strength and courage to stop following the norm of society. And if you do not have enough strength, you probably should get married, because this is a safe option at that time.

“How odd the Girl’s life looks

Behind this soft Eclipse—

I think that Earth feels so

To folks in Heaven—now—”.

In the second line of the second stanza, we can see the unequal of being male and female by the changing of the women from childhood to a wife. I realized this scenario was happened in 19th century, which I have learned so far that in the nineteenth century the women cannot protect themselves, they cannot vote and they do not have any right to say anything because men always have the right to do everything but women do not. This norm still exists in some Asian culture. The unequal of being a male and a female exists in the nineteenth century. However, she almost sees marriage as a best place for pain. As far as we can see that the author uses metaphor ‘Eclipse’ for marriage to compare ‘the Girl’s life’ with the wife’s life. Besides, the ‘Eclipse’ can be understood that a transformation has seen from the dark to the bright, it seems like a step a girl goes from the hell to the heaven. Thus, she uses the adjective in ‘soft’ in front of the metaphor seems to support the marriage; however, an eclipse itself can indicate darkness and reclusion. It is clear to say that Emily Dickinson wants to highlight the wife’s insignificance by the side of her husband through this metaphor. For her, being a single and a married has a different gap, it looks like ‘Earth’ and ‘Heaven’. So, when the author stands in the ‘folks in Heaven’ and when she looks back people, most of them are ‘odd’, not fully look like how ‘the Girl’s life looks’. A month ago, I have analyzed the story which is telling about the women position in the 19th-century, girls cannot have any protection, most of them have to become a housewife, they cannot work to get salary, and they do not have any right to say or vote something. So that is why ‘it’s safer so’. Many of them announced their rejection of marriage because they wanted freedom. Maybe she meant it would be safer to have a person who can understand her as well so at least she can have someone willing to protect her whenever she needs.

“This being comfort—then

That other kind—was pain—

But why compare?

I’m ‘Wife’! Stop there!”.

The last stanza of the poem emphasizes on Dickinson’s feelings about marriage. She points out that married life will bring ‘comfort’ to a girl. She suggests that marrieds’ life is finally painless. Thus, I believe that marriage sometimes can have some happy tones, sometime can bring some sad tones, like a song, there will sometimes be high notes, and sometimes there will be bass that exist in parallel in a song. As far as we can see Emily Dickinson constantly confused between being a wife and a girl by asking ‘why compare?’. This confusion can simply understand that a wife’s responsibilities and the expectations of those around her expect her. This is happening same as in my country, and I believe this scenario can happen in anywhere in the world: before you get marriage, you have to know some rule and your husband’s family will teach you some a ritual before going home to your husband. At that time, your parents-in-law and family will have lots of expectations that you will become a perfect wife. In the last line of the poem – ‘I’m ‘Wife’! Stop there!’ almost sounds like a husband’s voice, shouting and ordering the wife to stop asking the pointless question. I believe that in that time, man has the most powerful, and because they can. Marriage will be a safe option for a girl if they do not have enough to strength against this rule. Through this poem, Emily Dickinson wants women to know that being alone do not really a bad thing, but being married is the safer option. Emily Dickinson almost knows that getting married is a safe option, but she is not really want to do that, and that’s why she keeps asking herself if she should not get married or not. She admits that when you get marriage, you probably need to focus on your relationship, do household, take care your family. It is clear to see that being a ‘Wife’ will be the safest place to stay the rest of life.

Throughout the poem, Emily Dickinson wants the reader to understand that marriage is the beautiful thing, but it also the pressure in a girl’s life if a girl is not ready to marriage. In Asian, a girl has to get marriage no matter what happens. Besides, she hopes girls can independently better on their own even though marriage is the safer option, but it is what society expects of them, not really because of they want to do.