单选题
Emily Dickinson
It was only after her death from Bright"s disease on May 15, 1886 that Emily Dickinson enjoyed recognition for her poetic accomplishments. A limited volume of her work appeared in 1890, but it was Thomas H. Johnson"s release of her complete body of poetry that received real
acclaim
. He published 1,775 of her poems in 1955 in a volume entitled
The Poems of Emily Dickinson.
Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. The Dickinson family was well known in the community for their contribution to politics and education. Most of the family belonged to the Congregational Church, except for the poet herself. She lived most of her life in her grandfather"s house, Samuel Fowler Dickinson, who is renowned for having
founded
the Amherst Academy in 1814 and later Amherst College in 1821.
Emily Dickinson was different from other women of her generation in that she led a
reclusive
life, but her childhood was a very happy one. She had the privilege of being educated at some of the most prominent women seminaries of her time. Her avid mind devoured books and soaked up in the knowledge imparted by the most illustrious scholars of the era.
It was during her college years that Emily started dabbling in writing. She began putting down verses on paper, and some of them were published anonymously at the behest of her female friends. However, the first serious attempt at being published failed as the Atlantic Magazine rejected Dickinson"s early poems for publication. This led the self-conscious poetess to believe that the public would never care for her work, and thus she never attempted to have any of" her work published again. After the Civil War, Dickinson withdrew from society and had few contacts outside of Amherst and wore only white throughout her adult life. She did, however, maintain active
correspondence
with friends from college.
It was only after her death that the magnitude of her writing was discovered. Her younger sister, Lavinia, found 1,775 poems bound in small packets tied with thread. Emily Dickinson was very concerned with the subject of nature partly due to the fact that her secluded life style had offered her more time to focus closely on the nature of things.
Dickinson"s writings are complex, and for many years scholars have searched for romantic inspirations, but have yet to understand her work. What is clear, nonetheless, is that her work cannot simply be described in terms of a narrative style. In fact, her intricate and obscure way of writing is of most interest to recent scholars. Dickinson, although given ample opportunity, refused to allow her work to be published. This is also of great interest to those studying her work. A recently found manuscript demonstrates how Dickinson uses a punctuation of space and lineation as a visual expression of words to reinforce their poetic meaning.
Without a doubt, Dickinson"s work has influenced and continues to influence modem poetry. For her time, her style was unique given that it included the use of dashes and capitalized nouns. None of her work rhymed, and she incorporated unusual comparisons when referring to events and situations. This unconventional method of writing has heralded her as being one of the most innovative poets of the 19th century. Her writings have a revolutionary nature, demonstrating a complex, multifaceted mind that often undermines popular conception.
Her resistance to the male-dominated society set her apart from most women of her time. Dickinson defined herself as a person, not as an extension of the male figures in her life, as most women of her time did. This resistance is well represented in her work and has been the focus of study for several groups of researchers and students after her death. Feminists have also emphasized her intellectual and artistic sophistication instead of describing her as a reclusive, eccentric figure.
Glossary
Brights disease:
a generic term for disease of the kidneys
lineation:
an arrangement of lines
dash:
a punctuation mark