Emily Dickinson

The purpose of this research is to examine selected critic-isms of the work of Emily Dickinson and discuss why certain

assertions about Dickinson's work are or are not valid, with

specific reference to her poetry. Additionally, the principal

poetic technique of Dickinson will be discussed, with a view

It seems fair to say that the literary reputation of Dickinson is generally high among critics of her work. Allen Tate, identified with the New Criticism's practice of close textual analysis (1:160, passim), begins his study of modern American poetry with Emily Dickinson. Mazzaro's collection of critical essays includes Northrop Frye's "Emily Dickinson," in which Frye alludes obliquely to the universality, hence collective unconscious, of Dickinson's themes (7:112).

The perception of Dickinson as a contemporary writer appears significant for the reason that Dickinson's life began and ended

well within the margins of the Victorian era (1830-1886) and well

within the confines of traditionally Puritan New England. Received wisdom would tend to suggest that a modern, not to say

contemporary approach to poetic style and theme would be highly

unusual coming from such a milieu. Acknowledging the spare nature

of Dickinson's diction, Tate notes the way in which Dickinson

manages to compress the whole of life into a few stanzas, a few

images, a few figures of speech. In particular, he points to

"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" as "one of the

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re one idea at a time. Thus each poem may be taken as a symbol of an idea, an illustration of personal intuition, but nonetheless valid for its individualism. The poems are meant, therefore, to pack a punch, to achieve what Edmund Wilson calls the shock of recognition, and this is why imperfect or assonantal rhyme makes sense; it jars the perception and commands attention, not by vulgar shock value but by glancing off the familiar comfort zone of conventional versification. The way in which Dickinson's poetic technique achieves its thematic purpose may best be discerned through a direct examina-tion of specific poems. A rather wise attitude toward the vagaries of love is suggested in the following poem, so short that it may be conveniently duplicated here: A Charm invests a face Imperfectly beheld-- The Lady dare not lift her Veil For fear it be dispelled-- But peers beyond her mesh-- And wishes--and denies-- Lest Interview--annul a want That Image--satisfies There are only two genuine rhymes in the poem, in the second and fourth lines of each stanza. The stanzas are not strictly separated but held together by the conjunction "but," which has the effect of making the initial thought of uneasiness at a

Category: Literature - E