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Style Analysis
Emily Dickinson's poems were written to look like traditional nineteenth-century verses. The rhyme used in her poetry
is really a stretch of the imagination. Dickinson's poetry was difficult to comprehend because of her tendency to write sentences
backwards. In publishing her works, editors had to be called in to add conjunctions in the poetry. In many of her poems, Dickinson
would end mid sentence, as if she either lost her train of thought or got tired of the current idea. Most of her works were
riddled with dashes where words had been left out, making it easier to comprehend if the piece is read aloud. The subjects
of her poetry are conservative, such as domestic things found in the house or garden. Many talk about the animals found in
the garden behind Dickinson's house.
Dickinson avoided the florid and romantic style of her time, creating poems of pure and concise imagery, at times
witty and sardonic, often boldly frank and illuminating the keen insight she had into the human condition. At times characterized
as a semi-invalid, a hermit, a heartbroken introvert, or a neurotic agoraphobic, her poetry is sometimes brooding and sometimes
joyous and celebratory. Her sophistication and profound intellect has been lauded by laymen and scholars alike and influenced
many other authors and poets into the 21st Century.
There has been much speculation and controversy over details of Dickinson’s life including her sexual orientation,
romantic attachments, her later reclusive years, and the editing and publication of various volumes of her poems. This biography
serves only as an overview of her life and poetry and leaves the in-depth analysis to the many scholars who have devoted years
to the study of Emily Dickinson, the woman and her works.
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