However, these often contradictory ideas and images work towards a sense of wholeness and integrity which is essentially open-ended in terms of its meaning. "Often the openendedness, the sense of incompletion, is achieved by sound as much as by visual imagery"
Diction is another aspect that is often mentioned with regard to this poets particular style. "...it is her study of the individual word and her masterly discovery of the right word that chiefly defines her distinction."
In essence Dickinson uses many techniques such as slant rhymes and dissonance to create a disturbing and evocative atmosphere which leads to further questioning. This style is possibly an aspect that can be referred to in ascertaining the reason for her significance for modern poetry. In many cases reading a poem by Dickinson reminds one of the postmodern emphases on paradox and open-ended statement, combined with jarring combinations of images.
Conclusion and summary
In conclusion one could state the significance of Emily Dickinson's works lies in both style and content and the way that these two aspects are integrated to become an exciting exploration of poetic expression. The following extract fro her writing possibly expresses the inner note that resounds throughout her works and which is suggestive of the reason for their continued literary significance.
Much Madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning Eye-
Much Sense -- the starkest Madness-
Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail-
Assent -- and you are sane-
Demur-you're straightway dangerous-
And handled with a Chain-
These lines express the modern view that the role of the poetry is to question assumptions about reality that most people take for granted through the use of evocative and insightful large and imagery. The poetry of Dickinson is from one point-of-view a form of 'Madness' but also the "divinest Sense." She was in effect an innovator, not only in terms of style, but also in terms of the larger role that allowed poetry to question and confront issues such as the conflict between the individual and society in a modern context.
Works Cited
Emily Dickinson [essay online]; available at http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/selects.html;Internet: accessed 13 July 2008.
Harvey P. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. London: Oxford University Press, 1967.
Knox, Helene. "Dickinson's the Poets Light but Lamps." Explicator 41, no. 1 (1982): 31-31. Database online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=99229862.Internet. Accessed 15 July 2008.
Leder, Sharon, and Andrea Abbott. The Language of Exclusion: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987. Book online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=27480769.Internet. Accessed 15 July 2008.
Mitchell, Domhnall. Monarch of Perception. Amherst University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. Book online. Available from Questia, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=11023238.Internet. Accessed 15 July 2008.
Short Biography...
Emily Dickinson and "The World is Not Conclusion" The poems of Emily Dickinson have been interpreted in a multitude of ways and often it is hard to separate the narrator of her works with the woman who wrote them. Few authors have such a close association between the individual and their work as Emily Dickinson. In Dickinson's poetry, the narrator and the poet are often seen as interchangeable beings. Themes that
.. "I could not see to see" (from Dickinson, "465"). Words; phrases, and lines of poetry composed by Dickinson, within a given poem, are also typically set off, bookend-like (if not ruptured entirely at the center) by her liberal use of various punctuation "slices" (or perhaps "splices" is the better word) appearing most often in the form of either short and/or longer dashes (or combinations of these), e.g.: "-"; and/or
(Jones, p. 49). These confessional poems are often "searing in their self-inquiry" and "harrowing to the reader" and typically take their metaphors from texts and paintings of Dickinson's day. Some scholars posit that the "Master" is an unattainable composite figure, "human, with specific characteristics, but godlike." (Jones, p. 49). Recent scholars have posited that Dickinson saw the mind and spirit as tangible, places and that for much of her life
On the one hand, she had an almost desperate sense of wanting to believe, while on the other, she had little reason to do so. Her poetry addresses her doubts and fears regarding religion, inspiring critics to often jump to conclusions regarding her religious persuasions or indeed lack of these. This very ambiguity is what makes Emily Dickinson's poetry such a fulfilling experience. Her work lends itself to various
(Ibid) Romantic Loves in her Life: Emily's name has been romantically associated with a number of people. However, whether by design or by co-incidence, all her love affairs seemed doomed for failure from the start -- as her objects of desire were almost always unattainable. Reverend Charles Wadsworth, a married man with children, whom she met on a rare visit to Philadelphia in 1855, has been mentioned as one of
Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1830. She attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, but returned home after one year. She continued to live in her family home with her younger sister, mother and father. Her brother and his wife lived next door. Dickinson rarely left her house or received visitors. Those whom she did associate with, however, had a powerful affect on her poetry. It is
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