Stefan Mesarovich
Mr Colburn
Emily Dickinson poem essay
Emily Dickinson wrote her main body of work during a tumultuous time in American history. The civil war was ravishing all aspects of the country, from the main areas of fighting to even the quietest towns in Massachusetts. Emily grew up as a child of of privilege, being in one of the wealthier families in her home town of Amherst, Massachusetts. She spent her childhood years at a private school in Amherst before attending seminary for a brief time before she returned home. Around this time she began to sequester herself. First she started to only take short walks to the lake near her home. Then slowly she started to only stay within the confines of her home. She would only meet with guest for brief periods of time, and most of her relationships were via letters and other forms of indirect communication. During this time she was writing her poems in secret, only having very close family or friends knowing of her poems. After her death her younger sister discovered over 2000 poems in her room. Dickinson was one of the most prolific poets of the nineteenth century.
During her life Dickinson was only published in one newspaper and at that only about a dozen times. This small amount of publications wasn't from her lack of trying she extensively tried to have her work published in the early part of her life, but most papers wouldn't except a women, or her poetry on the basis of its unconventional manner. She would later stop attempting to get her work brought to the public. She wanted to seclude herself. She wanted to remain in her own world. This idea of being alone appears in the poem. She is proud of her position as an outsider, proud of her anonymity. The poem emphasizes her mentality of staying in this small world with which she has total control. Her poetry generally lets you into fragments of her mind and how she perceived the world, this poem especially shows us that she liked to remain hidden, it was not the fault of some mental illness. She chose the be alone with her thoughts and with her mind.
Emily Dickinson is one of the most interesting poets in the nineteenth century because of her unusual writing. Her minds grasp on the world around appears in her writing. She has short lines like she is making observations on the world. It feels almost as if she is critiquing the idea of social normality by even suggesting that we have to be known, that we have to give our names as a formality. We give away the one thing that separates us from others. Our name is the only identifier that we have, we give each other names so that we know who we are. Our name carry's weight, it has an essence behind it, it is our title, the one thing that when heard brings forth our image. We spend time with our names, we decide how our name should be presented, this is life. When someone says another persons name that is who they are. Emily is disgusted by the fact that we just give away our names. That we spend so much defining who we want to be and what our name should stand for that the formality of telling everyone you meet your name disturbs Dickinson. She wrote this poem to comment on how society during her time interacted with each other.
I really liked the biographical part of the essay, telling the reader about Dickinson's life and how secluded it was. The segue from her life's story to the analysis of the poem and that she wanted anonymity was very well done. There is parallel between how Dickinson lived her life and the message she is trying to get across in the poem and Stefan did a good job explaining it. I especially liked the part about "giving away our own names." That is a very insightful way to interpret the poem and Dickinson's purpose in writing it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what Josh has said. Stefan has really taken this connection to a deep level. He provided extremely thorough biographical information about Dickinson, which gives his analysis much more weight. I also agree with what Stefan said when explaining how the poem doesn't show Dickinson to have a diagnosable mental illness, but instead she chose to be alone and have total control over her world. After reading the poem, I got the exact same impression-that she knew exactly what she was doing when isolating herself and she wanted it. I also enjoyed the tidbit about how she was only published in one newspaper ever, because that immediately connected to Dickinson's line about "advertising," as if in a newspaper. I certainly enjoyed learning a lot more about Emily Dickinson's life, thanks to Stefan.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the biographical part of the essay, which introduces the reader to Emily Dickinson and provides context to the rest of the essay, I also liked the vivid and varied vocabulary -- these only serve to augment the evidence presented. Also, while some sentences could be made more concise, the essay reads well; this is important because a in a fragmented essay, the points become scattered and foreign to the reader, so the don't support the conclusion as strongly.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this it really painted a picture of who Emily Dickinson was and what she went through. I also loved the way it flowed and it didnt bore me where I gave up on reading.You worked hard on this which is clear to see.The details you gave were very well written. I loved when you wrote "That we spend so much defining who we want to be and what our name should stand for that the formality of telling everyone you meet your name disturbs Dickinson."
ReplyDeleteIt's my second time I read it and found it even more interesting. This essay makes a lot of senses and have no paradox itself. And, I also agree with Josh and like the way Stefan explains Emily's biography.The two different topics, which are Emily's biography and her idea in the poem, are moving together clearly.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how it brought up something that I had never known before, that Emily Dickinson had chosen to seclude herself. That one small little detail sheds so much light on her. I also found her views on names really interesting. How the more we use them the less meaning they have. It reminded me of a book I remember reading several years ago, where when the main character called out this person's name, that person would help them; but only three times. And the main character was so unused to names having such importance that he shouted out the name and the bad guy heard it and used it against him. Just showing how important names are, but how unimportant we treat them.
ReplyDeleteI thought Stefan did a great job with the biographical part of the essay. I also thought that the analysis was perfect. I agree that Dickinson was observing from the inside of her house how society reacts to people's interactions with each other. I also agree that Dickinson didnt have a mental illness but chose to stay inside. I thought Stefan dida great job with this essay, good work.
ReplyDelete-Jack Corcoran
This essay makes a lot of deep points and I really liked how based on just one poem, you were able to tell so much about Emily. However, I wish you had related it more to the text so that people who have not read the poem knew how you gathered these ideas from the poem.
ReplyDelete-Corrina Roche Cross