Emily Dickinson's Inclination Of Entering The World

Emily Dickinson, the famous American poet, attracts many readers'and critics'attention. Her poems, for all their innovative brilliance, are nonetheless outpourings of her private feelings. And just like her great masterpieces, her enigmatic character will never fall into oblivion.The previous studies are generally about Dickinson's poems, concerning their themes and unique styles. In recent years, studies of her work from paradoxical perspective come on the stage. These studies mainly discuss her contradictory attitude towards life, nature and love. Surveying the present research situation, we can find that many critics have attempted to explore the reclusive element in her poems; however, little attention has been paid to her role as a participant of the world. Basing on the angle of her paradoxical attitude towards the world, this thesis analyzes her role as a reclusive poet who participates in the worldly affairs.In addition to introduction and conclusion, the thesis is divided into three chapters.Chapter one is on the theme of Dickinson's mundane perception of nature. This chapter is subdivided into three parts. The first one is about the factors that affect her view of nature. Considering the environment, we can see that in the 19th century, America was reigned by the suffocating atmosphere of materialism, which was the byproduct of the Civil War. What's more, during that period, Dickinson's relatives and friends died and left her one after another. These facts engender her confusion, fear as well as disappointment of the reality. And accordingly the desire of trying to stand aloof from the world becomes more and more distinct. Living far away from the crowd, she has more time to be with nature. Sometimes she might consider it as a perfect place, but it is true that many of the times she might regard it as a condensed society. Then the second part discusses her pure love of nature, which tells us her high expectation of life. She takes all the creatures as her siblings and shows her yearning towards a peaceful life through the depiction of their harmonious relationship. Seclusion is actually her evasion from the world where her expectation of life may never be fulfilled. The third part puts emphasis on her earthly view of nature. Dickinson regards nature as a minimal society. The reality of the outside world can find their very embodiment in her poems. This shows that she is not completely aloof from the worldly affairs, and she attaches herself with the world every now and then.Chapter two, which is also subdivided into three parts, is about Dickinson's worldly view of death. The first part lists the reasons for her view of death. On the one hand, Dickinson has witnessed death for many a time ever since her childhood, so the very thought of death brings her nothing but fear. On the other hand, living a life of seclusion, Dickinson is gradually endowed with the peaceful mind concerning death. So her seeming contradictory attitude towards death forms. The second part discusses her reclusive view of death—taking it as a way leading to immortality and the continuity of current life. As a reclusive poet, Dickinson can face death with a nonchalant mood. However, the case is that only when she regards it as the guise of a new life can she face it peacefully, which in turn tells us about her care about life itself. Then the third part is about her worry about afterlife. She cares about the difference between heaven and hell, so she inquires anxiously of the priest about heaven and human beings'destination. Besides, she is eager to be accepted by God and the mere thought of being refused brings her depression. These all speak volume for her obsession with religion and death. Her participation in the world and connection with the world are still distinct even after her retreat. In fact, reclusion is her camouflage of participating into the world. She still leaves an eye on earthly affairs under the cloak of seclusion.Chapter three is centered on Dickinson's temporal attitude towards love. The chapter is also divided into three parts. The first part discusses what helps to form her view of love. Dickinson's earlier love experiences are depressing. Feeling rather dejected, she lives her whole life without a husband and her several pursuits of love all end in failure. On the one hand, she is despondent, but on the other hand, she never forsakes her pursuit of love. The second part talks about her larruping role as a woman in pursuit of love. Compared with the traditional passive role of women in love, Dickinson plays a different one. She boldly asserts her right of love and insists on women's independence in love. This shows that she isn't indifferent to love even after her retreat, and she is just trying to get it with a different manner. The third part discusses her everlasting pursuit of true love. We can find quite a lot of examples showing her persistent desire for true love and everlasting imagination of a soul-mate. This tells us that she still looks forward to the advent of love in deep heart, which is the evidence of her inclination of worldliness. She is actually using the reclusive status as her camouflage to participate into the world so that she can shield herself from people's attention and all the disputes.Then there is the conclusion. From the above analysis, it is safe to draw the conclusion that Emily Dickinson is a recluse, which is for sure. But at the same time she participates into the worldly affairs. Reclusion actually acts as her camouflage. Her poems are epitome of her era. Though she lives far away from the world, she attributes with numerous poems that are closely related to the reality of her time.Emily Dickinson does deserve our admiration and study. She is more a great painter who leaves us a wonderful landscape of her time than a reclusive poet who contributes with numerous wonderful poems. Her care of the world wins her enough materials to write and her reclusive life offers her plenteous free time as well as space to compose at will and therefore she can let the world hear her unique beautiful voice. Dickinson's life is mostly spent in her reclusion, and she creates her spiritual paradise by means of poems. Her living space is limited, but she manages to make infinite out of finite and thus proves to us that the value of life lies not in the form but in the creation.