A Study On Emotions And Thoughts Of Emily Dickinson And Their Changes From The Perspective Of Poetic Rhythm

Poetic rhythm refers to any regular movement in any objective form perceived in reading poetry.To analyze poetic forms from the view of rhythm can better reflect what a reader feels and is of benefit to reproduce a poet's emotions and attitudes during the creation.The forms of Emily Dickinson's poetry are diversified and hard to be mastered,but the rhythm underlying them always falls into a regular pattern.By analyzing the rhythm of Dickinson's poetry,a better understanding of the poet's emotions and thoughts can be obtained.Researches on Dickinson's poetic rhythm at home and abroad have some deficiencies at present.They are found to be lack in quantity,comprehensiveness and diachronic perspective.To make up for the defects,this research is carried out centering on three questions: What is the rhythm of Dickinson's poetry made up of and what are their characteristics? What are the specific relations of poetic rhythm to Dickinson's emotions and thoughts? How do poetic rhythm and Dickinson's views on religion,nature and love change through time?In order to provide satisfied answers to these questions,this thesis mainly adopts the research method of close reading,and when scanning the poetic rhythms of Dickinson,the author mainly takes advantage of Derek Attridge's approach to do the scansion in meter and phrasing.Through the investigation,the author firstly finds that the rhythm of Dickinson's poetry is not only made up of auditory rhythm,including hymnal meter and rhyme of xaya pattern,and visual rhythm,like phrasing,but also often influenced by rhythmic marks,such as dash,inversion and enjambment.Each element is able to generate distinct rhythm or to exert impact on it owing to their conventional features and functions,and some may even be used subversively.For this thesis,poetic rhythm of Dickinson no longer merely refers to meter.Secondly,the poetic rhythm mainly plays a role in suggesting and foregrounding Dickinson's emotions and thoughts and their changes.Though rhythm cannot define emotional colors,yet it can suggest emotions and its color can be fixed in context and in analysis of images.Thirdly,Dickinson's views on religion,nature and love underwent three stages of alteration.Emotions and thoughts in each stage as well as every shift in views are reflected and enhanced in the poetic rhythm.There is an intimate connection of Dickinson's emotions and thoughts to the selection,feature and change of her poetic rhythm.Dickinson's poetry is a perfect combination of forms and contents.Poetry is her life and her life is poetry.This thesis not only enriches the studies on Dickinson's techniques and thoughts,but broadens the research perspective of English poetry.