The Influence Of Personal Experiences In Emily Dickinsons Poetry Essay

The Influence of Personal Experiences In Emily Dickinsons PoetryNone of Emily Dickinsons readers has met the woman who lived and diedin Amherst, Massachusetts more than than a century ago, yet just about of those samereaders feel as if they know her closely. Her reclusive life made understandingher quite difficult. However, taking a close look at her verses, one can learn agreat deal ab out(a) this remarkable woman. The poetry of Emily Dickinson delvesdeep into her mind, exposing her person-to-person experiences and their stoop on herthoughts about religion, love, and death. By examining her life some, andreading her poetry in a certain light, one can see an obvious autobiographicalconnection. exclusively the beliefs and emotions Emily Dickinson wrote about were based, inone way or another, on the same aspect of her upbringing, which was religion.During her childhood, life in Amherst was based strongly upon religion andPuritan values. The classifiable Puritan virtues of simplici ty, austerity, hardwork, and denial of flesh, were ever-present disciplines in Emilys life (Sewall22). Despite her stubborn denials to be labeled, she was very much of a NewEnglander. Cynthia Griffen Wolff, author of Emily Dickinson, points out thatEmily knew every line of the Bible intimately, quoted from it extensively, andreferred to it many more times than she referred to any other work... yet inthis regard she was not unusual by Amhersts standards (72). The mostprominent figure of religious virtues in her life was her father, EdwardDickinson. Reading the Bible to his children and speaking in town of religiousethics were daily events in his life. At home, he tried to raise his childrenin the rigorous religion of their ancestors, however his methods appeared quiteharsh. People who knew the Dickinsons referred to Edward as a severe, latter-day Puritan, a power-minded tyrant..., and his home was lots depicted as a gloomy prison (Sewall 8). In fact, Emilys fear and awe of him seeme d todominate her life. Although he read aloud from his Bible, conducted prayerservice in his home daily, and he educated his children in a strict Puritan way,he himself was not quite a believer. He delayed conversion until advantageously intomiddle age, ...displayed no mark of singular devotion, defined his vocation interms of business, an... ...ath - distancing it, coming to terms with it, andfinding no fear in it (Sewall 665).The personal experiences of Emily Dickinson had a great influence on herpoetry. Through her verses we can understand and relate to her much more easily.Without them, her withdrawal from society would have kept her unknown. erstwhileshe wroteThis is my letter to the WorldThat never wrote to Me -The simple News that Nature told -With tender MajestyHer Message is committedTo Hands I cannot see -For love of Her - tonic - countrymen -Judge tenderly - of MeIt seems fairly obvious that Emily Dickinson knew that someday her poems wouldbe found and would be used a s a window into her thoughts.