An Interpretation Of Emily Dickinson’s Conversion Of Belief In Death Poems

Emily Dickinson （1830-1886） was born in a small town called Amherst in New England of America. She was a quiet prolific American woman poet. In her whole life, she composed more than1700poems with passion, innovation, and advanced skills of a20th century master of poetry. Among her poems, more than600are about death. And according to her life context, the social environment, and culture, her attitude toward death was changing all the time.Emily Dickinson 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. When her peers of the19^th century were still paying attention to the use of traditional skills such as rhymes, meters, she had already tried her skills which were astonishing at that time. Her themes of poetry were unique, especially the themes of nature, life, and death. Emily Dickinson dared to live a life according her own rules rather than the conventional social codes. She carved a space for herself in such a male-dominated society.Most people misunderstood her, so in her lifetime, she was not accepted. Few of her poems were known to people. Only after her death did people begin to know that this woman poet had composed such a large number of excellent poems. Her poems were especially appreciated and highly praised by the later Modernists and Feminists. This thesis will make a preliminary analysis about Emily Dickinson and her death poems.Chapter one provides a description of life background that had affected Emily Dickinson’s poetry creation. Dickinson’s life experience, her family and friends were closed connected to her poetry composition. She grew up in a narrow, provincial town, where people tended to follow the social codes. Despite strict instructions from her family, she bravely broke away from people’s expectations and composed poems to interpret her dreams and desire, her conflict and confusion. These were lots of phrases Dickinson employed speaking of her friends, whose effect upon her development as a poet was profound.Chapter two gives the religious context around Emily Dickinson. Dickinson was born in a Puritan family, with a strict family tradition and conventional education. She lived her early life according to the convictions; while in her late twenties, she stopped to attend the church and created her own beliefs. On one hand, she was deeply affected by the Puritan convictions; on the other hand, she wished to find a new way to enjoy her relationships in this life, rather than afterlife. She was conflicted in religion, which was clear in her poems.Chapter three discusses the influence of Transcendentalism. Emily Dickinson was greatly affected by the philosophical movements of her time, especially Transcendentalism. She was introduced to the important member of Transcendentalist group, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and became known to Emerson. She praised individual spirit as well in her poetry, and showed her belief that people could be divine, and could attach to nature and God without religion. She could be recognized as an important Transcendentalist.Chapter four examines the way that the factors mentioned influenced Emily Dickinson and her attitude toward death. She lived in her small house, cared only her family and friends, but still felt the change of the outside world. She felt pain about those people close to her leaving without knowing whether they had gone to the heaven or not. Her suspicion about the existence of afterlife and heaven became deeper in her heart. On the other hand, she did not get recognition from people of that time. She felt disheartened, therefore became more attracted by death. In her last several years, she felt the approach of death. That was also why she composed a large number of her death poems.Emily Dickinson’s poetry is a reflection of the social atmosphere, her living condition, her education, her religious belief, and also her feelings about all those things. From this perspective, the author of this thesis expects to provide some ideas that can be helpful to understand her attitude toward life and death.