'Emily Dickinson tears the comforting Victorian blanket of language and exposes to us her stark, distinct, jewel-like world.' How adequate do you find this as a description of the effect of Emily Dickinson's verse?
'Emily Dickinson tears the comforting Victorian blanket of language and exposes to us her stark, distinct, jewel-like world.'
How adequate do you find this as a description of the effect of Emily Dickinson's verse?
Emily Dickinson's poetry can be described as ambiguous and enigmatic. The description given in the question is much like Dickinson's poetry, and hence, itself requires some interpretaion. The main subjective part of the question is the 'jewel-like world', which I will adress later. But, more prominently is the fact that Dickinson's poetry is the anthetis of any 'Victorian blanket' whether it be the language of morals or society:
Despair is the central theme running through most of Dickinson's poems. She portrays a wholly differnet view of the expression of emotions than was apparent in the Victorian Period which was was esentially that emotions were to be kept secluded behind a facade of happiness and contentment with life, espeially for women. Yet her poems are continually concerned with the quality of pain and suffering (she seldom supplies the source), and she seems to dwell in her misery;
E.g 'I like a look of Agony'
And 'There is a pain - so utter-
It swallows substance up'-
This trait of Dickinson's litters her poetry with a curious mixture of pleasure and pain, the two being so deeply interwoven at times creates the effect that they become the same thing. For example, 'Heavenly hurt.'This passion of Dickinson's to embrace 'taboo' subjects (particularly in the Vicotian period) makes her writing 'distinct' indeed.
But Dickinson goes futher in tearing the Victorian blanket of langauage, especially where her poems are concerned with duty as here she portrays a sense of mysteriousness. We must be careful to note that it is not that Dickinson is implying that our calling in life is a mystery and therefore unknowable, but rather it demands a lot of consideration and imagination. This in itself is extremely provacative in the Victorian ages as during that period woman's futures were set out for them, i.e .look after the husband and bring children into the world, indeed Dickinson directly questions that:
How adequate do you find this as a description of the effect of Emily Dickinson's verse?
Emily Dickinson's poetry can be described as ambiguous and enigmatic. The description given in the question is much like Dickinson's poetry, and hence, itself requires some interpretaion. The main subjective part of the question is the 'jewel-like world', which I will adress later. But, more prominently is the fact that Dickinson's poetry is the anthetis of any 'Victorian blanket' whether it be the language of morals or society:
Despair is the central theme running through most of Dickinson's poems. She portrays a wholly differnet view of the expression of emotions than was apparent in the Victorian Period which was was esentially that emotions were to be kept secluded behind a facade of happiness and contentment with life, espeially for women. Yet her poems are continually concerned with the quality of pain and suffering (she seldom supplies the source), and she seems to dwell in her misery;
E.g 'I like a look of Agony'
And 'There is a pain - so utter-
It swallows substance up'-
This trait of Dickinson's litters her poetry with a curious mixture of pleasure and pain, the two being so deeply interwoven at times creates the effect that they become the same thing. For example, 'Heavenly hurt.'This passion of Dickinson's to embrace 'taboo' subjects (particularly in the Vicotian period) makes her writing 'distinct' indeed.
But Dickinson goes futher in tearing the Victorian blanket of langauage, especially where her poems are concerned with duty as here she portrays a sense of mysteriousness. We must be careful to note that it is not that Dickinson is implying that our calling in life is a mystery and therefore unknowable, but rather it demands a lot of consideration and imagination. This in itself is extremely provacative in the Victorian ages as during that period woman's futures were set out for them, i.e .look after the husband and bring children into the world, indeed Dickinson directly questions that:
