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Introduction

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was born in a small New England village. Even though she rarely left Amherst, she was a major American writer, who maintained intimate friendships and her life was less than ordinary. She renounced some of what most people she knew experienced. She wrote quietly, for herself and for her close friends, and did not seek the fame. Dickinson wrote 1775 poems, only seven of which were published in her lifetime. She examines fear, studies pain, but also explored happiness, ion for life. This essay will examine, in short lines, her attitude towards the nature, love and friendship, her inner world colored in the dark color of solitude or absence. Also, the symbolism of birds will be mentioned and discussed, chosen among many other symbols that she used.

Her writings about nature in fact discuss themes of much greater importance, like the relationship between people and nature. Also, other poems that talk about love or her mind are in most cases reduced to pain and depression. She was an eccentric, she was ‘different’, and was and still is interesting.

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1. Nature

One of the themes that occur in Emily Dickinson’s poetry is – the nature. She presents her impressions of a moment: seeing a bird that behaves naturally, unaware of the presence of the speaker. “A bird came down the walk: He did not know I saw“

The speaker tries to come closer and to observe how the bird eats a worm or offer it food. But that act makes the bird fly off.

“Like one in danger; cautious, I offered him a crumb, And he unrolled his feathers And rowed him softer home.“

The behavior of the bird indicates that it is the wild creature of nature.

“He bit an angle-worm in halves and ate the fellow, raw. “

Although, the bird’s caution in nature,

“He glanced with rapid eyes That hurried all abroad, “

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coming down the walk,

“A bird came down the walk“

and referring to the like beads and velvet,

“They looked like frightened beads, I thought; He stirred his velvet head.“

all indicate civilized values.

That is in contrast with the fact that the bird ate the worm “raw”, which inevitably emphasizes its wilderness.

The poem “A bird came down the walk” talks about the nature in of danger, wilderness and beauty that lies in all these things. In fact, Emily Dickinson captured a few moments of life in the nature, describing the act of feeding, which is an essential part of life. Also, the escape from the danger depicts the instinct to stay alive. She seems to be fascinated with this liveliness, despite her infatuation with death and her attraction to morbidity.

So, this poem is a representation of the separation from humans, who walk down the sidewalks, instead of paths, who make technological advances every day and move away from the nature.

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The bird here was given some more sophisticated (almost human) characteristics: divides up the food before eating it drinks from “a grass”- alliteration gives a refinement. Also, the bird becomes “polite” by letting the beetle by. This represents the separation of humans from nature, too, showing the sophisticated and civilized manners.

I have noticed that Dickinson describes nature in human , flowers, storm, sun- they all are personified, both when she is describing just a moment or daily things in her own particular way or as an announcement of an arrival or death.

“The daisy follows soft the sun, And when his golden walk is done, Sits shyly at his feet.”

In “An awful tempest mashed the air”, the storm represents the arrival of something bad, but it ends in a lighter tone:

“The morning lit, the birds arose; The monster's faded eyes Turned slowly to his native coast, And peace was Paradise!”

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2. The symbolism of birds

The symbolism of the bird is various and there can always be numerous interpretations. In this case it may symbolize a need for some nurture. Dickinson was quite a unique person, had a rich inner world. It may be that a person like her has some different desires and needs from the world surrounding her.

So we have a bird that eats a worm “row” on one side,

“He bit an angle-worm in halves And ate the fellow, raw. “

and the rest of the world that usually uses cooked food. It feels like Dickinson had a certain wilderness in her soul.

Birds have always been the symbol of soul. They represent the soul, flying free of the earthbound body and seeking the heaven. The birds represent a age between the physical world and spiritual worlds.

“Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops - at all –“

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In “Hope is the thing with feathers”, Dickinson uses a metaphor to describe hope, by comparing it to a bird. In this poem, the bird represents a feeling of expectation that never ends.

“And never stops at all“

We know that it is said about hope that it ‘never dies’. It lies in our heart sometimes, even when we have nothing to say, even if we can not explain the belief in its force. In its quite manner, hope helps us in the expectations of our tomorrow.

It is needed the most, however, in the moments of different difficulties. Hope frees the spirit, which is essential for every man’s inner world, because of the human nature.

“And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm.“

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3. Inner world, solitude and friendship

Emily Dickinson lived an introverted and reclusive life, was a spinster, and was thought of as an eccentric. She was a prolific private poet and her poems are quite unique for the era in which she wrote. She chose a seclusion-life and the outer world was an experience devoid of integral reality to her. However, she discovered the wealth of the inner life and that is where she found inspiration.

Her major themes are often connected to her depressive state of mind.

In the poem “I felt a cleaving in my mind” we can feel a psychological breakdown, a state of depression.

“I felt a cleaving in my mind As if my brain had split; I tried to match it, seam by seam, but could not make them fit. “

In the late 1850s, the Dickinsons befriended Samuel Bowles, the owner and editor-in-chief of the Springfield Republican, and his wife, Mary. They visited the Dickinsons regularly for years to come. During this time Emily sent him over three dozen letters and nearly fifty poems.

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During the 1850s, Emily's strongest and most affectionate relationship was with Susan Gilbert. Emily sent her over three hundred letters over due to their friendship.

I could conclude that Dickinson felt good when she was with ‘herself’, mostly, because it seems that connection with other people and friendships made her too vulnerable at moments.

The poem “The soul selects her own society“talks about friendship amongst other thing. Her soul’s strong identity is emphasized by the choices it makes when opening the doors to certain people. It presents selecting and rejecting friends as the right of an individual.

“The soul selects her own society, Then shuts the door; On her divine majority Obtrude no more.“

Dickinson was troubled from a young age by the death, especially the deaths of those who were close to her, for example- her lover.

“And I, could I stand by And see you freeze,

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Without my right of frost, Death's privilege?“

Here, in “I cannot live with you”, she talks about the despair when lover have to be apart.

“So we must keep apart, You there, I here, With just the door ajar That oceans are, And prayer, And that pale sustenance, Despair!”

In this case, she regards death as her "right" and a "privilege," thereby making death a desirable state, because it would torment her to live without him and therefore would prefer them to die together. Her solitude is reflected in her conversations with her own heart, like in “Heart, we will forget him!” I believe that she was a fragile woman who wanted the warmth of a company “You may forget the warmth he gave”

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But, I also think that she was able to rationalize all the bad things that happened, and to make herself go on. “Haste! Lest while you’re lagging, I may him!”

4. Love Love is one of major themes in Dickinson’s poetry- in many of its forms, whether she speaks about the incapability of being separated from the loved one by death or the mere absence of the loved one and a hope for a reunion. In “I cannot live with you” she, in a way, identifies herself with her lover and takes away the importance from the fact that she is alive and successful, if he is dead or lost. She is lost without him. “And were you lost, I would be, Though my name Rang loudest On the heavenly fame.”

But, even if he were not dead, they cannot be together. “And were you saved, And I condemned to be

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Where you were not, That self were hell to me.” All in all, they cannot be together in any case, neither can they live, nor die together.

Furthermore, “If you were coming in the fall” depicts 'his' absence. But, she can wait for the return of her dearly beloved as long as it takes. “If you were coming in the fall, I’d brush the summer by, With half a smile and half a spurn, As housewives do fly.”

Dickinson observed different aspects of love, but it seems that most of them were embroidered with pain, sufferance and absence. The title of the poem “You Left Me” indicates the physical or emotional separation from the person she loves. It was probably a great, deep love because even a Heavenly Father would be content with it. “You left me, sweet, two legacies, A legacy of love A Heavenly Father would content, Had He the offer of;”

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Clearly, all that remains after it is pain and emptiness. “You left me boundaries of pain Capacious as the sea, Between eternity and time, Your consciousness and me.”

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5. Conclusion

If one decided to read and give analyses of all Dickinson’s poetry, he or she would have to work hard, but would surely enjoy it. She wrote about many different themes, I did not manage to mention in this essay, but what I have done gave me pleasure. She notices many details that others miss, celebrates things that all of us can see in a special way, deals with her inner world and the state of her mind. I believe that this kind of confrontation takes courage. ‘In her writing, Dickinson “distills” sense out of her “ordinary” life and what people would think of its ordinary “meanings”.’ (Lewicki) There is no self-pity or lack of strength in her writings, although she writes about pain, loss, suffering, despair.

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6. Bibliography

A Handbook of American Literature for Students of English; Zbigniew Lewicki

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/hope.html

http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/14848.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/dickinson/section4.rhtml

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