Analysis of Emily Dickinson Poetry

Dickinson's poetry uniquely presents the aspects of religion, death and perception of future life in an entirely different context that varies from the traditional perspective. Additionally, it's evident that her works completely ignore the external perception of the world and concentrate more on her inner knowledge. Most of her poems appear to be written without an ambition of publication (Diehl, 2014). The songs may be considered as her trail of ideas (or her soft voice) in which the audience is guided to connect with her opinion on religious aspects of life. For instance, when one reads the poem‘I taste a liquor never brewed-', the audience can "see" ‘little Tippler Leaning against the sun.' 

The poet shows how she has already left the earthly world (the world without the sun). The author, therefore, moves to heaven where the angels welcome her. In the poem, the author explains the transformation from secularism and into the spiritual realm. In her perspective, the transition is not entirely dependent on God. From the poem, the poet not only integrates her love for nature thereby heightening the transition from physical life to the spiritual life. The poet, therefore, obtains religious lessons from her inner voice and remains truthful to herself (Dickinson, & Franklin, 1998).

Significance of Religion and God in Dickinson's Poems

Emily Dickinson poems exemplify different spiritual consciousness of the poet. First, Dickinson lived in an era in which the society held the God's supremacy over the society with high regard. Moreover, the organization had established a set of religious rules that were to be followed by the community. Unfortunately, the poet had a different opinion on religion that differed from that of her community. Although she never heads similar belief, she was not a religious rebel but a weak follower at heart(Dickinson, & Franklin, 1998). 

The poet did not believe in Puritan religion but acknowledged that God is responsible for giving humanity the freedom to re-discover themselves so that they can discover their inner truth about themselves. According to literary critics, Emily Dickinson poetry shows how the poet would use explanations and imagination to test all aspects of life. Most of Dickinson’s poetry have integrated heavy religious doctrines that are analyzed using imagination and experience. Moreover, the poems show significant evidence of her weak faith in religion. In all her poems, Emily may be viewed as a critical antagonist, a skeptic, a heretic and ultimately a poor Christian (Dickinson, & Franklin, 1998). 

Emily Dickinson lived in Amherst, Massachusetts (1830-1886). She grew up in a strict Christian family characterized by the moral ruggedness and inwardness of Puritanism. Contrary to her father's stout beliefs in Christianity, Emily was not a devout Christian, and she did not have the conviction. Her opinion in Christianity was compounded by the limited relationship with her father in whom the two were complete strangers. Moreover, Emily was very detached from her mother and siblings. The low-income family relationship and religious attitude can, therefore, explain her state of mind as well as her position on religion (Dickinson, & Franklin, 1998). 

Emily was resistant of the authoritative nature of religion especially in the New England especially since Christianity was dominating and orthodox. Instead, Emily had a relatively flexible mind that was more open to new ideas and innovations. In this regard, Emily criticized theology especially since it was founded on the grounds of damnation and salvation. Emily, therefore, considered herself as different in that she would think abstractly about religion to determine why religion concentrates more on Puritanism and heaven in spite of the lack of evidence on the uncertainty of the skies (Diehl, 2014).

Emily, therefore, criticized life by looking at it more privately and carefully. Although her life was not as smooth as she wanted it to be, she appreciated it and never got tired with the successes and failures that it brought. Instead, she integrated art through music and poetry to achieve maximum utility of her life (Ferlazzo, 1984).. One key aspect of Dickinson poetry, is her opinion on issues relating to the truth about life and death. In this perspective, Dickinson responds that death is ‘the Horror welcomes her' a quote that is found in the poem ‘The Soul has Bandaged moments". 

According to Emily, the "horror" can be compared to that found in Kurtz" The Heart of Darkness" where the dying protagonist could identify the "fear" of the truth, death, and life before his actual death. Such attitudes of life, truth and death were not common especially in the early 19th century America. Dickinson 's poems, therefore, reflected the rare voice of modern Americans who were against rigid religious perspectives on life. In spite of such beliefs Dickinson acknowledges that humankind cannot exist without such conviction (Ferlazzo, 1984)..

Dickinson also had certain religious beliefs, and she also longed for religion and faith. Her desire for faith is represented in the poem;

Those – dying then,

Knew where they went –

They went to God's Right Hand –

That Hand is amputated now

And God cannot be found –

The abdication of Belief

Makes the Behaviour small –

Better an ignis fatuus

Than no illume at all – (1551)

The above poem illustrates a point in time when Dickinson deeply searches religious faith. Although different individuals have the different understanding of the poem, it is evident that she (Dickinson ) considers herself as nonreligious (Ferlazzo, 1984).

However, her profound mind has a limited element of religious faith. From the poem, Dickinson does not intend to magnify her opinions. She neither desires to sacrifice herself by holding regulatory norms religious beliefs nor does she wishes to serve under religious rules. Instead, she has formulated her rules by molding them using her mind based on imagination and experience. She, therefore, considers supernatural events as ordinary ones by converting religious mysteries into universal human mysteries while emphasizing more on the mysteries of human nature (Diehl, 2014). 

In this perspective, she regards the mysteries of God and redemption as aspects of humanity that are practical and finite. During the process, Dickinson remains aware of how her beliefs and convictions contradict those of her family and ancestors. The poet could therefore not bear the burden of authority that was created in the religious domain (Ferlazzo, 1984). It is suggested that Emily did not get married since she could not allow any human being to dominate her life, thoughts and beliefs. Most critics view Emily's life as a profound writer of visionary poems. 

Emily's works were produced in an era where most women (of her age) were deemed unfit to write poetry. Instead, the society expected the women to follow all religious duties and responsibilities. In this regard, mot female poets were therefore forced into marriage at an early age and developed severe hatred to authority. Examples of Dickinson 's contemporary poets forced into marriage include Elizabeth Oakes- Smith, who got married at sixteen and therefore heavily criticized feminism society. In her response to the feminist essay "Women and Her Needs", Elizabeth says that it was very common for young girls to get married and become young mothers at the age of sixteen years (Ferlazzo, 1984).

Such Parenthood exposes them to poor health, low youthful joy and deprives them off all dignity of life". during that period religion formed the best weapons of a given society to control the opinion and wishes of the female gender. Women were often considered as inferior human beings and subordinate of men. In this perspective, Religion, therefore, converted women to being "weaker sex" when compared to men. Most girls did not attain the quality education and after some time, they often yielded to social pressure and got married. As a result, most women developed a weird feeling of uselessness and emptiness in spite of being married.

Some women (such as Elizabeth and Emily) felt impelled to desire idealisms and other emotions that were not permitted by the Puritan religious beliefs that involve strict and often biased obedience. Poets such as Emily Dickinson experienced Puritan traits of strictness, severity, sensibility, and simplicity (Ferlazzo, 1984). However, she developed a creative way of observing her inner self by making smart observations on the communication loopholes in which she interacts with her higher Self in a less formal approach, unlike her God-fearing forefathers.

Moreover, Dickinson vehemently rejects the terrifying idea of a Puritan God and instead focuses on a more loving God found in her imagination. She, therefore, advocates for a loving God who is slightly different from the God of the "chosen" or "called" Puritan Christians. Although she accepts the ideology of the existence of God, she believes in the ideas of transcending desire and not the concept of an individual being sinful (or holy) from within. She, therefore, develops her faith based on her personal divinity. Dickinson's poetry, therefore, includes notions of the continuous doubt on God's ways but does not fear Him (Eberwein, 1986).

It is evident that she never fully understood God, nor did she have absolute faith in His ways. It's believed that Dickinson's seclusion verifies her spiritual asceticism in the sense that she is an introvert and a loner who preferred to stay lonely for a long time. She secluded herself from the society and spent more time in critical thinking and poetry to express herself. Dickinson capitalized her loneliness and the Victorian internment of women to develop space for her poetry. Her poetry after that turned to be a representation of spirituality. In this regard, she mostly concerned herself on issues relating to truth, life infinity, and death. She also developed immortality as part of her consciousness to counter death that was prevalent in her immediate society. As a result, loss of life forms a significant theme in most of her artistic works (Ferlazzo, 1984).

In this case, her works also integrate graveyard meditation as part of understanding different combination the concepts of life and death. Additionally, Dickson also focuses on identifying the Truth about aspects of life and death. To this extent, she develops theories and methodologies that do not follow the traditional Christian doctrines such as the existence of an "Ideal" God, who has different characteristics to the conventional God as explained by the Puritan Christians. She, therefore, explains that humankind by experience moves from one level of ignorance into a higher one using a cognitive process (Eberwein, 1986).

Additionally, Dickinson uses poetry to show the relationship between the objective truth and subjective truth. In her poems, she uses "I" to mean her actual self and bring out an overall sense of belongingness. To this end, the audience can acknowledge that the poems not only represent her opinions but also those of the entire mankind. Emily's poems integrate strong metaphors and mind images of God and other aspects of religion thereby enabling the reader to decipher social dilemmas of molarity that are clouded by religion. Her poems, therefore, represent her courage to criticize the damnation or salvation of her soul especially when she is celebrating earthly existence (Ferlazzo, 1984).

Conclusion

Emily Dickinson poetry is truly immeasurable and quite profound. In this regard, Emily's poetry provides a scientific approach in which individuals from diverse social-cultural environments can explore the productive tensions found in spiritual dimensions. The poet also developed scientific theories and observations that are meant to limit the religious scope of uncertainty and risks that are insinuated by religion in the 19th century America. The poet also blended spiritual and scientific language to extend into the artistic abilities to develop poems that aim at improving human understanding of cultural and religious life. Emily Dickinson poems exemplify different spiritual consciousness of the poet. First, Dickinson lived in an era in which the society held the God's supremacy over the society with high regard. Moreover, the organization had established a set of religious rules that were to be followed by the community.

Unfortunately, the poet had a different opinion on religion that differed from that of her community. Although she never held a similar belief, she was not a religious rebel but a weak follower at heart. The poet did not believe in Puritan religion but acknowledged that God is responsible for giving mankind the freedom to re-discover themselves so that they can discover their inner truth about themselves. Family characterized by the moral ruggedness and inwardness of Puritanism. Contrary to her father's stout beliefs in Christianity, Emily was not a devout Christian and she did not have the conviction. 

Her opinion in Christianity was compounded by the limited relationship with her father in whom the two were complete strangers. Moreover, Emily was very detached from her mother and siblings. The low-income family relationship and religious attitude can, therefore, explain her state of mind as well as her position on religion. In this regard, she was resistant of the authoritative nature of religion especially in the New England especially since Christianity was dominating and orthodox. Instead, Emily had a relatively flexible mind that was more open to new ideas and innovations. In this regard, Emily criticized theology especially since it was founded on the grounds of damnation and salvation.

References

Dickinson, E., & Franklin, R. W. (1998).  The Poems of Emily Dickinson.  (Vol. 1). Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Ferlazzo, P. J. (1984).  Critical Essays on Emily Dickinson . New Jersey: GK Hall.

Diehl, J. F. (2014).  Dickinson and the Romantic Imagination . New York: Princeton University Press.

Eberwein, J. D. (1986).  Dickinson: Strategies of limitation . Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press.