Emily Dickinson Essay

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Phares 1

English 2130
25 April 2013
Unit 3: Emily Dickinson
A Representative Author: Emily Dickinson is an excellent representative of Unit Three because of her literary contribution. Emily Dickinson is known as one of America’s greatest poets. According to Wikipedia, Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts December 10, 1830. Her grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was the founder of Amherst College. Her father, Edward Dickinson, followed his father’s footsteps in the academic life. He did this by serving in the capacity of the colleges treasure for almost forty years. Dickinson’s father led an active political career as a State Legislator and served in the United States Congress. Emily Dickinson also shared a close relationship with her two siblings Austin and Lavina. Austin Dickinson grew up and became a lawyer. Neither Lavina nor Emily ever married. Emily Dickinson had an especially close bond with Susan Huntington Gilbert who was very supportive of her writings. Gilbert exchanged over 500 letters over time with Dickinson, and the relationship the two women shared was thought to have been the “strongest and most affectionate” of Emily’s life. Gilbert also married Dickinson’s brother Austin in 1856. According to Baym, a few of Dickinson’s early literary influences were Shakespeare, Emerson, Hawthorne and The Bible. Her writings included a wide assortment of categories such as nature, music, science, and religion.
A Representative Work: A work that best represents Emily Dickinson and Unit Three is Because I Could Not Stop for Death, written in 1862. The poem, published in Baym, describes the final Phares 2 ride to a burial place. In its description you are left feeling as if you have been interrupted from your life. “My labor and leisure too” also was thought to have left you feeling as if you were being driven around in a carriage. In the poem you are revisiting your youth when passing by the school were children play at recess. The air seems to be getting colder and you are not adequately dressed. “For only my Gossamer, my Gown”. In what “feels shorter than the day” you are going toward eternity. This is a theme in unit three because of the death and destruction of the Civil War. The Civil War lasted from 1861-1865 and, according to Wikipedia, had over 625,000 deaths. Dickinson wrote a lot about death in the over 2000 poems that she created as noted in the Biography of Emily Dickinson.

Most Significant Historical Event: The most significant historical event that took place during the period of Unit Three was the Civil War. According to Civil War Trust, “Northern victory in the war preserved the United States as one nation and
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