Emily Dickinson Essay

A poem, sonnet, short story, and other kinds of literature all seem useless if no one has ever read it. The true value of words can only be best appreciated when their meaning reaches other people. Emily Dickinson, one of the authors renowned to have produced some the finest literary pieces, has touched the hearts of many people all around the world through her works. Even today, years after she passed away, her works and influence linger for generations to come. There is no better way to understand the present without knowing and tracing the remnants of the past. Emily Dickinson’s classics give people a better grasp of the kind of life that people lived during her time. Analyzing the writing style and the perspective of an author such as Dickinson will give the people a comparison of today and yesterday. Most authors write based on their experience or the surrounding environment, and studying these pieces of literature will provide a person with information about the author, his or her family, and daily living. Emily Dickinson’s father was a lawyer and her mother was a housewife. She was born to a wealthy family in Massachusetts and was blessed with good education. She was proved to be an introvert yet an intelligent student. She started writing shortly after she attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Famous Poets and Poems, 2009). Most of her works center on the issues of death, immortality, nature, and faith. She dedicated her poem entitled â€Å"Safe in their Alabaster Chambers† to her friend and fellow author Thomas Wentworth who participated in the Civil War (Famous Poets and Poems, 2009). â€Å"Because I Could Not Stop for Death† is also one of her famous and well-talked about poems. It obviously talks about death and the afterlife. Some of the controversial lines are the following: â€Å"Because I could not stop for Death, / He kindly stopped for me. / The carriage held but just ourselves / And immortality† (Dickinson, 2000a, n. p. ). In the poem, the author uses the point of view of someone who has experienced eternity to describe it. She illustrates her life’s journey through childhood, maturity, and old age. Contrary to most views, the author describes death as a gentleman who came to take her towards the afterlife. Death is one of the topics she chose probably because it was during her time when the Civil War erupted, and all her loved ones were dying, like her friend Wentworth. Experiencing the death of a loved one makes a person contemplate about it. Emily Dickinson also gave breath to the famous quote, â€Å"love is life† and â€Å"If I could stop one heart from breaking† (Dickinson, 2000b, n. p. ; Dickinson, 2000c, n. p. ). Love is the shortest most powerful word that ever existed. The author is correct when she said that â€Å"love is life† because its power transcends death (Dickinson, 2000c, n. p. ). During the 19th century, people fought hard for life and love. That is why most works coming from these times talk so passionately and deeply about it. â€Å"If I Could Stop One Heart from Breaking† is another classic that talks about what a person can do to help another being. She expounds further by saying that her life would not be in vain if she could help ease a person’s pain (Dickinson, 2000b). Life is too short to be wasted for selfish reasons, and as such, the life of an individual who takes the time to go an extra mile for others will not be in vain. Emily Dickinson’s works are priceless because they will never go out of style, and her words of wisdom can be applied all throughout the ages. She had a rough life, and she clearly made her point using her words. She is one of the most acknowledged and successful authors of all time not only because of her unique and classical perspective, but also because she succeeded in giving the people of today a peek of what it felt like to have lived and loved in the 19th century. References Dickinson, E. (2000a). Because I could not stop for death. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. New York: Bartleby. com.Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://www. bartleby. com/113/4027. html. Dickinson, E. (2000b). If I could stop one heart from breaking. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. New York: Bartleby. com. Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://www. bartleby. com/113/1006. html. Dickinson, E. (2000c). That I did always love. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. New York: Bartleby. com. Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://www. bartleby. com/113/3008. html. Famous Poets and Poems. (2009). Emily Dickinson Biography. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://famouspoetsandpoems. com/poets/emily_dickinson/biography.