Emily Dickinson is an influential poet of American literature of the XIXth century. Unlike most renowned authors and poets, she did not live to see her writing published. Therefore, her poems are minimally affected by editorial input and can show the author’s original semantic as well as stylistic intention. The purpose of this assessment is to ascertain themes and techniques employed by Emily Dickinson that make her poetry memorable.
Researchers of Dickinson’s poetry have identified four recurring themes in her poems. Specifically, Aldalabeeh notes “death, nature, love, and relationship to God” (61). Dickinson expresses her attitude towards death in numerous ways, accentuating her fear, acceptance, and resilience towards it. The second theme explored by Dickinson in poems was love. Aldalabeeh argues that in Dickinson’s poetry love is frequently intertwined with religion (63). Although there are lines that are directly devoted to the description of love and intimacy, there is always an underlying presence of religion that teaches lessons on the nature of love. The third theme is nature, which is often presented as a mysterious force that brings about both life and death. As much as people are born and live due to natural forces, they also age and die because of them.
Another popular opinion is that Dickinson’s most expressed theme is grief. When exploring the prevalence of emotions related to bereavement, Stroebe notes that Dickinson “conveys the very essence of grief” (76). As opposed to Aldalabeeh who views death as Dickinson’s major theme, Stroebe argues that it is the main focus is put on the response to death. Dickinson’s most expressive poems revolve around her reaction to the death of a person close to her. The multitude of thoughts and feelings cause her to write about religion, a person’s place in the world, and the consequence of love. However, all these ideas stem from the sense of grief, which causes the poet to ponder the meaning of their existence.
A third viewpoint on Dickinson’s themes is that she raises abstract questions instead of conveying a specific message. Ali and Mohammed point to death, poetry, and nature as the themes most prevalent in Dickinson’s poetry (380). They explore the stylistics of her writing and conclude that a substantial amount of meaning is created through the unusual use of capitalization. For instance, in many cases, common nouns are capitalized, which indicates greater significance and meaning. Ali and Mohammed note that this technique is frequently used by Dickinson and can be seen in most of her poems (382). At the same time, all stylistic peculiarities are deliberate, which implies that any word that is inappropriately capitalized should be attentively studied for hidden meaning.
Hiding meaning in words and structures is extremely characteristic of Dickinson. The most common technique used to convey hidden significance is the use of metaphors (Ali and Mohammed 378). Metaphors help the poet emphasize their involvement with the subject at hand, which in Dickinson’s case is fascination with the nature. Ali and Mohammed use the famous line “inebriate of Air” as an example of both unusual capitalization and the use of metaphoric language (384). Such choice of stylistic devices allows the poet to convey a substantial amount of information, while using a limited number of words.
Taking all the above-mentioned opinions into consideration, it should be evident that Dickinson was a person frequently contemplating on the nature of life, love, death, and other aspects of human existence. Without researching her poetry or life, there is a high probability that a person would be confused by the complex stylistic of the poems. It is important to acquaint oneself with scholars’ reviews and assessments, since they frame all seemingly peculiar choices as concise creative techniques used by the poet. Understanding the importance of stylistics facilitates perception of Dickinson’s poetry.
The first technique that can be observed in Dickinson’s poetry is heavy metaphorization. Almost all poems have lines with metaphors in them, such as “Twice have I stood a beggar before the door of God” in poem 49 or “I like a look of Agony” in poem 241. Metaphors allow Dickinson to personify abstract concepts, which in these cases are death and agony. The second example also showcases the use of capitalization, implying the importance the author places on this scene. First, there is substantial pain hidden under this word, which would not be evident without unusual capitalization. Second, the use of metaphor associates Agony with a person, thus allowing the audience to better connect with Dickinson’s perception of death.
The main theme of Dickinson’s poetry is death, which is expressed or alluded to in an extremely wide variety of ways. In some cases, she ponders her own death, such as in poem 449 “I died for Beauty – but was scarce”. In other instance, she views it as a solution to life’s problems, such as in poem 536 “the privilege to die”. Sometimes, she articulates her will to live, such as in poem 510 “It was nor Death, for I stood up, And all the Dead, le down”. However, throughout her poetry the theme of death is always present, either as a personified phenomenon or an invisible looming presence that affects the poet’s thoughts and feelings.
In conclusion, Dickinson’s poetry is rich in both meaning and stylistic choices. Unusual capitalization draws the audience’s attention, while metaphors create ambiguity and interest in the meaning of the poems. Meanwhile, Dickinson does not convey a specific message, instead preferring to ponder the purpose of certain aspects of human existence by creating different scenes. The poems are varied, with many aspects of life brought under attention, but the most frequent theme in Dickinson’s poetry is death, which is always present in her writing.
Works Cited
Aldalabeeh, Yousef A. N. “Ordinary Themes Presented with an Extra-ordinary Talent: An Overview of Emily Dickinson’s Notable Poems.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, vol. 7, no. 3, 2018, pp. 60-66.
Ali, Abid Hmood, and Safaa Ayad Mohammed. “A Stylistic Study of Some of Emily Dickinson’s Poems.” Journal of Al-Frahedis Arts, vol. 29, 2017, pp. 367-388.
Stroebe, Margaret. “The Poetry of Grief: Beyond Scientific Portrayal.” OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, vol. 78, no. 1, 2018, pp. 67-96.