The following piece is about one of my favourite poets of all time. Her poems have touched the hearts of millions of people irrespective of their age or interests. This article is aimed at giving the readers a glimpse into her contributions to poetry and women's empowerment. I believe that this four-minute read cannot do justice to the wonderful legacy she has left behind but I do hope that her story makes you feel inspired.
“To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime”- Emily Dickinson
Emily 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. She bends literary rules with innovative wordplay, unusual rhymes, and sudden line breaks, revealing a deep and appreciative mastery of formal poetry structure even as she appears to flout its limits. Despite her shyness in social settings, she was vocal and passionate in her lyric poetry bucking the nineteenth-century idea that women should be quiet and servile to males.
Born into a distinguished family in Amherst, Massachusetts, socialising with friends, doing household tasks, and going to church were all part of her Victorian upbringing. She, however, began to withdraw from society at the age of 23, and by the age of thirty, she had become a relative loner, spending the majority of her days indoors. Dickinson's solitude helped her to concentrate on her poetry. Loneliness, anguish, happiness, and ecstasy were among the emotional and psychological states she addressed in her poetry. Death was frequently personified, religion, morals, love and love lost were also major themes of her poems.
Even though she maintained an outward air of submissiveness, her honest and unfettered writing made her an early feminist voice. "Dickinson's modesty, even if it conforms in many aspects to expected and mandated feminine behaviour, does so with such severity as to expose and radicalise gender norms," writes Shira Wolosky in a critical essay titled "Public and Private in Dickinson's war poetry." Dickinson's humorous and frequently rebellious poetry remains largely read, taught, and researched over two centuries after her birth.
Dickinson also draws attention to the stereotyped perspective of women and beauty in society, in which beauty is the sole "truth" for women to please everybody. When Dickinson says that beauty and truth are one, she is implying that her own attractiveness is determined by her own beliefs on herself, not by the opinions of others. It questioned a larger assumption that was constantly standardised by the dominant male discourse by pointing out that women only have the power to determine their own beauty. During this time, the "man" characterised women's beauty as a faithful partner. Dickinson, on the other hand, questioned this concept, arguing that women were the only ones who could determine their "beauty."
Dickinson's messages are not usually stated openly in her writings, but rather hinted under a larger meaning, like in her renowned poem "Because I could not stop for Death."
“Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.”
In an analysis of feminism Emily Rasch concluded that the popular agreement is that death, in this case, is a symbol of marriage continuing for an eternity. From the perspective of a feminist, this would be an eternity of living in a patriarchal environment. Dickinson never allowed herself to be bound by the "chains" of marriage because she did not want to be enslaved by the man. Instead, she was content to be a single woman in a time when being successful and "providing" for herself required the presence of a man. She stated these ideas, establishing a precedent that many young feminists now believe in: you don't need a man to be successful; you only need yourself.
With her outspokenness on significant cultural divides between men and women, Dickinson also brought up the societal image of religion, and a need for reform. Dickinson grew up rejecting traditional faith and disagreeing with the Puritan views that her culture forbade. She strongly fights against the misogynist ideals that religion withholds by exploring fundamental concepts in her religious poetry such as death, the Bible, and the essence of God. She opposes the orthodox religion's promotion of restricting feminine norms such as domesticity and submissiveness, as well as the denial of women's freedom.
After a series of losses in her family in the 1880s, Emily Dickinson experienced immense emotional turmoil, losing both her mother and her favourite niece. "The dyings were too deep for me, and before I could raise my Heart from one, another appeared." Emily became ill as a result of these events and was bedridden until November 30, 1886. Emily Dickinson stopped revising her poetry just before she died. Dickinson's actual artistic brilliance could not be realised until after her death, despite her busy writing career. In her lifetime, she only published seven poems, one of which being the now famous "Safe in their Alabaster Chambers," which was published in the Springfield Daily Republican in 1862. Lavinia discovered about a thousand of Dickinson's poems wrapped with thread into various booklets after her death.The works were well-received, and the true extent of Dickinson's creativity and genius was revealed.
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About the Author:
Hailing from Tamilnadu, Shivani Gnanasekaran is currently studying English literature from Delhi University. She is passionate about art, pet animals, music and learning new skills. Her dream is to travel around the world, meet new people and experience different cultures.