Emily Dickinson and Her Search for Answers

Paper Summary:

The following paper examines how the imagination was used as a tool to discover whatever Emily might have been able to find about life after death. Emily's views changed from poem to poem depending on her mood and what she wanted to believe at the time. This paper shows how Emily Dickinson felt about the uncertainty and uncontrollable aspect of death, with reference to her poetry.

From the Paper:

"Emily Dickinson is one of the most mysterious, yet profound poets in history. She was considered the poet of dread. Clark Griffith a well-known critic of Emily's poetry says: "Emily knew no aspect of existence which did not, sooner or later, strike her as fundamentally dreadful." He believed her vision was one of hell. Emily lived a very secluded life. The only time she left her home for any length of time was to attend a term at Mt. Holyoke College. She spoke to visitors through a screen, or from an adjoining room in her home. The importance of this aspect of her life is that this seclusion was a necessary condition in the creativity of her poetry. Emily's dreadful poetry many times had themes such as death and immortality. She was obsessed with these subjects and died still searching for answers to them. She admits her preoccupation with the thought of dying and with the grave "when the Grave and I-/ Have sobbed ourselves almost to sleep,/ Our only Lullaby." (Richard Chase) Here she is saying that her thoughts of death are the only thoughts that put her to sleep. I am going to show through two of her most analyzed poems how she tried to analyze death and immortality."

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