Emily Dickinson’s Major Poetic Themes and Analysis
The Domestic Realm: From Ordinary to Cosmic
Dickinson focuses on transforming the ordinary and everyday into something extraordinary and cosmic. She does not passively accept the Victorian ideal of the “angel in the house” (Patmore). Instead, she uses domestic images—brooms, aprons, a bed, a housewife—to talk about nature, the sunset, death, and the universe. Her home was her safe space, but from there she transcends the mundane.
- Example – “She sweeps with many-colored Brooms”: She describes the sunset as if a housewife were sweeping the sky with colorful brooms (the clouds or the light). The setting sun becomes a domestic chore on a cosmic scale. At the end, the brooms “fade softly into stars.” The domestic and the heavenly merge.
Religion and the Bible: A Critical Perspective
Dickinson has an ambivalent and critical relationship with institutional religion. She does not completely reject spirituality, but she questions the Bible as an absolute authority, the rigidity of faith, and the exclusion of non-believers. Her tone is often ironic or skeptical.
- Example – “The Bible is an antique Volume”: She calls the Bible an “antique Volume” written by “faded men” at the suggestion of “Holy Spectres.” She refers to Judas as “the Great Defaulter” and David as “the Troubadour.” She concludes that if the story had a “warbling Teller” (like Orpheus), all the boys would come, because Orpheus’s sermon captivated without condemning. Dickinson critiques the judgmental tone of traditional religion.
Love and Friendship: Intensity and Absence
Although not explicitly present in the close-reading poems provided, notes indicate that Dickinson was very intense and demanding in her friendships (especially with Susan). In her poetry, love is often linked to absence, loss, or a spiritual connection. It is not conventional romantic love but rather something unattainable or painful.
Nature: Evocation and Mystery
Dickinson focuses on evoking nature rather than defining it. She rejects simple definitions because nature is too complex to be reduced to a single word. For her, nature is simultaneously what we see, what we hear, and what we know, but also a mystery that makes our wisdom impotent. She wants the reader to experience nature in the mind.
Key Examples of Nature Poetry
- “The Murmur of a Bee”: The buzz of a bee is a form of “Witchcraft” that cannot be explained in words; it is easier to die than to tell it. The red on the hill takes away her will. The breaking of day (sunrise) can only be explained by the divine “Artist.”
- “Nature is what we see”: She begins by defining nature as “what we see” (the Hill, the Squirrel, the Bumble bee), then rejects it with “Nay” and says it is “Heaven.” She rejects that too and says it is “Harmony.” Finally, she admits that “Our Wisdom” is “so impotent” before “Her Simplicity.” Nature cannot be captured in one word.
- “The Sun went down — no Man looked on”: The sun rises and sets whether anyone watches or not. Nature is majestic and self-sufficient. Only the Earth, the narrator, “One” (a nameless bird), and a stranger are “Witness for the Crown.”
- “The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean”: Nature is not always beautiful. Sometimes it is caught “Without her Diadem” (without her crown), trapped in a gray, windy day. “Nature, like Us, is sometimes caught” in an uncomfortable mood.
Death and Mortality: The Subjective Experience
This is the most extensive theme in the notes. Dickinson focuses on defining death from a subjective experience, often speaking from beyond the grave (as if she were already dead). She explores the uncertainty of the afterlife, the possibility of resurrection, resignation to the unavoidable end, and immortality as a traveling companion.
Key Examples of Death Poetry
- “To die — takes just a little while”: She defines death as something brief and painless (“They say it doesn’t hurt”). It fades gradually and then is “out of sight.” She then describes mourning (a darker ribbon, a crape on the hat) and how time (“the pretty sunshine”) helps us forget. Death is an “absent – mystic – creature” who “Had gone to sleep” (a metaphor for dying).
- “Ample make this bed”: She speaks of the grave as a bed that must be prepared “with awe.” She does not want any “sunrise’ yellow noise” to “Interrupt this ground.” The “pillow round” is the tombstone or the mound of earth.
- “Because I could not stop for Death”: Death is personified as a kind suitor who stops for her. They ride in a carriage together, passing the school, the fields of grain, and the setting sun. Their destination is a “House” that is “A Swelling of the Ground” (a grave). Centuries have passed, but it feels shorter than the day she realized the horses’ heads were “toward Eternity.”
- “Death is the supple suitor”: Death is a “supple Suitor / That wins at last.” It is a stealthy wooing that ends triumphantly with bugles and a “bisected Coach.” It carries the person away “to Troth unknown.”
- “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died”: She describes the exact moment of death. There is absolute stillness (like between storm heaves), except for the fly’s buzz. The fly interposes itself “Between the light – and me.” Finally, “the Windows failed” (her eyes), and she “could not see to see.” The poem ends in uncertainty.
- “I felt a funeral in my Brain”: This is not a literal funeral but a dramatization of a mental breakdown (depression or a loss of reason). Mourners tread, a drum-like service beats, a box creaks, space becomes a bell, and finally “a Plank in Reason, broke.” She drops “down, and down” and “Finished knowing – then –.” The ending leaves the reader in uncertainty, just as she feels.