Emily Dickinson Creating an Identity for Women Essay

Emily Dickinson can be described as a hermit, living within the walls of her family home for great lengths of time (Young 76). Though this may have been seen as insanity, it has also been described as â€Å"an uncompromising commitment to artistic expression† and â€Å"as an attempt to undermine the restrictive masculine culture of her time† (Gale 49). This along with her failure to conform to poetic styles of her time, demonstrate Dickinson’s â€Å"desire to defy social and gender conventions of her day† (Gale 49). During the nineteenth century, women were predominantly depicted by males as either â€Å"the angel [or] the monsters† (Lipscomb 1). Dickinson, like many female writers sought to, â€Å"combat the patriarchal stereotypes and give an authentic picture†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"While Dickinson succumbed to a life of social marginality and seclusion,† she used her poetry to â€Å"open a new frontier of feminine power and assertiveness† (Gale 47). Though initially, Dickinson received little to no recognition for her published poetic works, modern critics have come to the realization that her poetic style was simply well ahead of her time (Gale 47). Dickinson’s use of dashes, capitalized letters, and punctuation, allow her to place emphasis on particular words and ideas. In â€Å"I’m â€Å"wife†-I’ve finished that†, Dickinson uses quotations surrounding the word â€Å"wife† in the first and final line to demonstrate the role of women during this time period (lines1,12). This becomes important and more apparent when the introduction of the word â€Å"Woman† arrives in line three. The contrast between the words â€Å"wife† and â€Å"Woman† are much like the roles each played in society. Similar to the method in which Dickinson uses to present the word wife, wives of this time period were less independent and more restricted than unmarr ied women. The quotations surrounding the words wife and Woman may be used as a symbol of the restrictive life woman in general were required to live. On the other hand, the capitalized word â€Å"Woman† demonstrates the freedom and independence a single woman is afforded in contrast to a married woman. Line three compares the â€Å"Woman† to a czar, demonstrating the power the speaker feels women are capable of possessingShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Emily Dickinson s Poetry2133 Words   |  9 Pages Emily Dickinson is perhaps one of the most intriguing American poets studied. The remote look in her eyes mirror her life, which she mostly spent secluded in her home in Amherst, Massachusetts. While leading an outwardly reclusive life, she unleashes the faculties of her mind in her powerful poetry. She addresses compelling themes such as death, depression, human despair, individual capability, and the art of poetry. 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