Analysis of Emily Dickinsons Poetic Style - Essay Example

Running Head: Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s Poetic Style Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s Poetic Style of Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s Poetic Style Introduction Emily Dickinson, a great name in American literature, is considered to be one of most prominent and popular poets of all times. Contemporary critics place her as one of the most outstanding poets of the nineteen century. She mostly spent her life alone and always stayed in her house. She did not marry and used to wear white clothes all the time.

In her isolation, she composed several masterpieces covering wide ranging topics including nature and love. She also wrote the poem “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?”, a simple and straightforward poem. The aim of this paper is to analyze the poetic style used in this poem in the lights of broad and diverse academic resources. Furthermore, it would concentrate on analyzing the meaning of the poem. Overview “I’m Nobody! Who are You?” has been written by Emily Dickinson. It is short, simple and straightforward but has a deep meaning.

The selection of the word “Nobody” in the title demonstrate that Dickinson was a nobody and she preferred to be that. It signifies that she loved to spent time in isolation and doing her house chores. It also demonstrates that she loved her gardens and she enjoyed reading as well as writing. The poem itself is considered to represent her isolated and secluded life. “"I'm Nobody! Who are you?" is a direct reflection of Dickinson's ideals on life” (Habegger, 2001). “Are you—Nobody—too?

” demonstrates the fact that Dickinson wanted to have another person, who would be just like her, that is, a nobody, with whom she can spent the rest of her life with. Majority of the poets and literary critics “have connected to Dickinson as being the "love" she spoke of in her poems are people to whom she corresponded with by letters, men and women alike” (Habegger, 2001). The third line “Then there’s a pair of us” shows that even Dickinson longed for love and companionship(Franklin, 1999).

The fourth line “Don’t tell! They’d banish us—you know” demonstrates that she needed a companionship, which was only between her and her nobody. The use of banish in the fourth line shows that Dickinson was an individual, who was against the standards and principles of the society. In other words, she was a non-conformist and rebel. During her life time, “she was scrutinized for refusing to sign an oath professing her Christianity. Additionally, she was scrutinized by the editor of the Atlantic Monthly when she submitted her poetry to them -- he asked her to revise them” (Franklin, 1999).

Analysis From the poem, the reader can easily identify that Dickinson was passionate poet, who used simple and straightforward language to compose her masterpieces. It also demonstrates the living choice of the poet and it indicates that Dickinson was fond of simple things in life. The term “Nobody” has been used by the poet to demonstrate that she loved being nobody and that she was a non-conformist. Her writing style shows that “she distilled or eliminated inessential language and punctuation from her poems” (Franklin, 1999).

Furthermore, helping verbs are not used in her poems. Franklin ( 1999) asserts that “Her disregard for the rules of grammar and sentence structure is one reason twentieth century critics found her so appealing; her use of language anticipates the way modern poets use language”. Furthermore, her language becomes more like a puzzle, which needs to be resolved intellectually. It also demonstrates that her isolation and her wish to lead a private life is responsible for adopting this style. Conclusion The aim of this paper was to analyze the poetic style of Emily Dickinson.

The poem selected is “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”. The poetry is simple in nature and it demonstrates that Dickinson disregard the rules of grammar and sentence structure. Furthermore, she preferred being a nobody and her secluded lifestyle choice can be seen in her poem. References: Franklin, R. W. (ed). 1999. The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge: Belknap Press Habegger, Alfred. 2001. My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson. New York: Random House