Emily Dickenson - Essay Example

Dickenson wrote volumes, and was one of the most prolific poets of the century. Most were ‘self published’ in books which she mailed to correspondents. Most of her work was not publicly published until after her death. Dickenson started using traditional styles, mostly dictated by English poetics, but eventually she began to play with form and content using different meter and rhyme schemes, and she created her own unique style. One can almost hear her voice in the poetry. She also added visual elements that most readers missed, using printed volumes of her poetry which left them out, until the original photocopied manuscripts were published.

Emily Dickenson was a very descriptive poet, suspended in time, watching a captured moment, examining and carefully dissecting it. (The fly buzzing at the moment of death)She was a watcher of the world and she took hers apart piece by piece and reassembled it. Emily Dickenson stops time, looking carefully and closely at small things, which may seem insignificant and she connects them all them to herself. (Because I could not Stop for Death) She chooses her words very carefully, distilling the moment.

We share a moment with her in each poem. Her poetry is often dark, but deeply considerate of the world in which she lives. If one reads about the fly buzzing as she died, Dickenson focuses on that one detail. Her voice is calm, almost detached, just as if she is simply reporting what she observes without becoming emotional about it. However, the connection she makes with the reader is rife with emotional reaction. Emily Dickenson was, in reality, a woman of leisure. She could afford to spend all her time writing and did create a huge body of work.

She never married and spent the last half of her life mostly at home in Amherst. (Walker 103)Her poetry seems to match the lady quite well. It is always rather calm, even though a bit