Emily Dickson‘s Poetry’

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　　刘璇

　　Emily Dickinson?s Poetry

　　If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.

　　-Emily Dickinson

　　Emily Dickinson is one of the greatest poets in 19th century, and her works are beyond the limitations of her time. Many critics held the opinion that Dickinson?s poetry marks the birth of 20th century?s poetry. The one who had direct influence on her poetry is Emerson, especially his ideas of independence. Emily was outgoing and open-minded when she was young, but society of 19th century had strict principles on young girls? behavior and actions, her character and desire for knowledge was not suppressed. In many of her poems, Dickinson showed her consciousness and contemplations.

　　From her twenty years old, Emily Dickinson withdrew from all kind of activities, lived only with her family and merely left her home. Since the autumn of 1861, she began to write poems. The poetry indicates that Dickinson lived a colorful spiritual life although she had hardly left her home.

　　Dickinson?s poems are usually based on her experiences, her sorrows and joys. But within her little lyrics Dickinson addresses issues that concern the whole human beings, which include religion, death, immorality, love, and nature. One of her most famous and representative poem is I Am Nobody：

　　I am nobody！Who are you?

　　Are you nobody, too?

　　Then there’s a pair of us-don’t tell1

　　They’d banish us, you know!

　　This poem applied the form of soliloquy, the poet narrates in first-person view, and she talks to her readers who are also “nobody” sectretly. The theme of their talk is the burdens brought by fume and reputations. Once become famous, one will be a public

　　figure and has no privacy at all by then. More over, in order to satisfy blind followers, they have to expose themselves to the public, and boast about their advantages. The narrator rejoices that she?s still remain unknown to public, and she requires her readers not to reveal her identity or they?ll be banished by society cause hey are nobody. Ironic tone is through the poem. In the second stanza, she realizes that being somebody and being admired by a lot of people is boring. She also makes a strange comparison; she says that being somebody is like being a frog. This is a ridiculous yet meaningful metaphor. Frogs make a lot of noise so that they can be heard and noticed by the bog. People with fame and status are the same with frogs, they always praise themselves so as to be noticed and admired by the public.

　　After reading the poem, I am wondering if our poet really wants to be unknown by the public, if she really enjoys her life of isolation and solitude or she ?s expressing her yearnings for a kid of social life which is within her sight but beyond her reach in another way. I am inclined to the latter. From her twenty years old, Emily Dickinson withdrew from all kind of activities, lived only with her family and merely left her home. Maybe in the bottom of her heart, Dickinson still wants to be recognized by people.

　　Dickinson put up with a problem deserves to think deeply in I Am Nobody-should we become nobody or somebody? This is a question hard to answer because everyone has his own opinion. Just like Dickinson writes in her poem, public figures make a lot of efforts in moulding and maintaining their perfect image. They have no privacy; everything about them can be talked by people for entertainment. Meanwhile, they have to face tremendous metal stress. This year, a famous movie star died of depressive disorder startled the whole society, which can fully prove how tough it is to be star. However, despite all of these disadvantages, there are still a vast number of people pursuing statue and fume, after all, the temptation is hard to resist.

　　Dickinson also presents death and immortality in her poetry which can be found in because I Could Not Stop for Death-. This poem reveals Emily Dickinson?s calm acceptance of death, Through this poem, she wants to tell us that death is not to be feared since it?s part of the endless cycle of nature. “We stopped at a house, the house/

　　As a swelling of the ground/The roof, barely visible/Eaves, below the surface of the ground/Since then, several centuries/Seems to short the time of day/That day, I first guess/The horse, towards the eternal.” She describes the tomb as home, and personifies death as a gentleman rather than a conventional hateful figure, which reflects her view of death as well as her religious beliefs. As a Christian and a Bible reader, she was optimistic about her ultimate fate and appeared to see death as a friend. She also believes that death means the start of eternal life, she writes immortality as another passenger of the carriage.

　　Although I am not a religion believer, I am still curious about death. Is there life after death? Or it?s just a form of superstition? I am afraid that this question is hard to answer by people alive; maybe our scientists can reveal the mystery in the future.

　　There is another poem that I find it very meaningful is Success is Counted Sweetest, in which Dickinson put up a special idea that the loser knows the meaning of victory better than the winner.

　　As he, defeated, dying,

　　On whose forbidden ear

　　The distant strains of triumph

　　Burst, agonized and clear.

　　In this stanza, the winner doesn?t fully understand the meaning of victory, the defeated, however, is in agony and knows how powerful success is. Dickinson also uses irony in this stanza, when she implies that the defeated is the one that actually feels what success is, even though he is not the one that has achieved it, the triumph is even louder in the ears of the defeated. He fully understands the difficulties of success when he is going to die, but he can?t have it.

　　Dickinson is also one of the defeated. Although she wrote 1775 poems in her life, only a tiny number of those were published when she was alive. Her school education and practices into society all ended up with failure. This poem is just like words from the bottom of her heart.

　　Successes and failures are common in our life. People who win success may feel the happiness while the defeated truly understand the hardship of success.

　　As a witty woman, Dickinson is sensitive, full of humanity and with a genius for poetry. Dickinson?s poems are usually based on her experiences, her sorrows and joys. Although Emily lives an isolated life, her limited world has never confined her creativity and imagination. While she was living in seclusion, she writes whatever she was able to see, to here, to feel, and to imagine. Dickinson?s poetry is unique and unconventional, it has no titles, a lot of dashes are used as a means of emphasis. Through the brevity and directness of her poetry, we can see the awakening the feminine consciousness and we can hear the voices of female of that time.