Honors Novel #2

Emily Dickinson was an educated poet, writing literature years ahead of her time. Due to her withdrawal from society, less then a dozen of her poems were actually published when she was alive. These varied from Love, Nature, Time, and Life. Even so, the poems she wrote always had a sense of questioning, an uncivilized perspective on things. Because of her unique response towards her environment, I think Emily Dickinson had an uncivilized idea and a wild way of thinking. She gave people second thought to what they considered natural "rules".

Her poem called "IF I can stop one heart from breaking" was one poem that displayed a different perspective, an uncivilized idea. The poem starts off saying "IF I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain;" It's a basic sentence that already questions the reader about what it means to live a life of fulfillment. Many people during that time, and even now, value life based on individual status. In her time, business owners were all about money, abandoning the poor to fend for themselves. But in this poem, she says that a life that's not in vain is one that helps other people. She introduces an idea against her environment's normalities. It was an idea that was rejected in her lifetime because large business owners were all about themselves and how much money they had.

Her poem called "PAIN has an element of blank;" was another one that stood out to me as unique and uncivilized. In the verse "PAIN has an element of blank; It cannot recollect", it talks about pain being an element of nothing. If you were to ask anyone about pain, they'd probably say it hurts as if it were a physical being. But following up her first stanza, she says, "It has no future but itself. Its infinite realms contain, Its past, enlightened to perceive; New periods of pain." Instead of saying that pain is a physical being that will always be there, she says that pain doesn't have a future. It is merely contained in a mental realm who's past can bring new pain. Here, she shows that pain is there because we let it be there and we lock is away, only to have it come back to us in a new form. Situations in society develops a mind set in people that pain is to be blamed on someone else. Most people find it easier to blame someone else for the pain they have caused. But Emily Dickinson counters that idea and says that pain is internal and brings no other people at fault.

The last poem I'm going to mention is one of her short pieces called "A WORD is dead". The first stanza says, "A WORD if dead when it is said, some say." It literally says what is used to being heard, what the norm was. In the second stanza it says, "I say it just, begins to live, that day." She compares an idea she has heard to an idea of her own. Everyday, people are exposed to words. Many think, "I'd heard words like this a million times, what makes this any different?". In this poem, she introduces the opposite, saying that all words are alive, that they all have their significant characteristics that make them meaningful and alive. She clearly, even in poem, counters common thinking.

All of the poems I've mentioned have a theme. They all produce a new idea to the reader. I think that Emily's style of wild and uncivilized thinking shows through her ability to write against the majority or the normalities of society. Compared to a world where many people blame others and think they, themselves, are successful, she talks about a new idea that tells the reader a new way of thinking about something. Other then elaborate writing, this was one of the main things that makes her poetry about life stand out. During her time, her work may have not been appreciated since people didn't understand. Even if they did, they probably would've been rejected and told that's the wrong way to think since her ideas disrupted normal mind sets and challenged their merit. From reading and learning about what someone else thinks brings light to better understanding of the world around us.

Citations:
http://www.tcnj.edu/~carney/dickinson/background.html (For some background info on Emily Dickinson)
http://www.wisegeek.com/who-is-emily-dickinson.htm (More background info)
http://www.bartleby.com/113/index1.html (To read her poems)