Life Consciousness In Emily Dickinson's Death And Immortality Poetry

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is not only one of the finest and most prolific poets in American literature, but also a fiercely independent intellect and an original talent writing poetry far ahead of her time. As a poetess living in the transitional period of American traditional religion and new thoughts, Emily Dickinson strongly expressed her own idea about the world, her doubt to herself and the culture that has cultivated her. She kept unmarried, restricted her life to her father's home, focused on the art of poetry, and led a life lived with full consciousness and self-awareness. Through a careful reading of Dickinson's poems, her letters, her biographers and research papers about her, the author of the thesis, who has long been subdued by her great poems on death and immortality, takes interest in exploring life consciousness in Dickinson's death and immortality poems, and finds it necessary and interesting to appreciate and expound it from a definitely new perspective-the perspective of phenomenology.Chapter 1 starts the body of the thesis with a brief introduction to phenomenology and its basic notions which is relevant to the theme of the thesis. Chapter 2, entitled as "The Intuition of Life", commences to explore the essence of life in Dickinson's death and immortality poems from the perspective of phenomenology. The phenomenological intuition is the first principle and the core method of phenomenology and it requires a move from the here-and-now individual experience to the contemplation of its essence. Dickinson's meditation of life and death is full of remarkable insights into life. Chapter 3 analyzes the embodiment of life consciousness, Dickinson's consciousness of self-identity, by giving insights into countless hidden meaning in the text of her poems. According to the author, Dickinson's individual experience, which is vividly described in many of her poems, could yield absolutely evident insight and universal truth. Chapter 4, "The Reflection of Life", is to deepen the understanding of Dickinson's unusual life-view and life choice, which is actually a brave struggle for embracing individual self and standing on life dignity under cruel social reality.Emily Dickinson's poetry is the reflection of her outlook of the world. From this perspective, the author expects to provide some ideas that can be helpful to deepen the understanding of Emily Dickinson's attitude toward life and world.