In the 1800s, there were two movements of writing that reigned supreme during the period. The first was the transcendental movement in which writers mainly composed essays on the bliss of living a simple life achieved by becoming one with nature. Great writers of the period include Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and the most renowned, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The other competing movement was the American realism movement in which writers wrote about very small moments in exquisite detail. Emily Dickinson, however, wrote in a span of time in which both movements had popularity, leading there to be confusion over which style of writing she should be classified under. While many people say that Emily Dickinson lived a life in solitude, her writing
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The main argument for Dickinson’s belonging in the transcendental movement is that her personal life was lived in isolation, which was a common theme amongst transcendental authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Dickinson’s writing, however, says otherwise, as she writes about instances in which she develops relations with others denouncing beliefs of her devotion to isolation. In Dickinson’s poem, If You were Coming in the Fall, Dickinson describes her relationship with someone very close to her writing “if I could see you in a year, I’d wind the months in balls, And put them each in separate drawers, Until their time befalls”(Dickinson 5-8). Emily Dickinson’s social relationship with this other person serves as evidence that she did not wish to live an isolated life, as she clearly wanted very much to see the person she writes about. If Dickinson was truly a transcendentalist, then she would never begin to mention the possible benefits of having someone else involved in her life, as it defies all transcendentalist beliefs. Furthermore, the pure accusation of Dickinson being a transcendentalist purely on her social life and not based upon any further information is preposterous, as the movements are mainly dictated upon the writing styles of the time and not the authors and their personal lives. The accusation of Emily Dickinson being a member of the transcendentalist movement is farfetched, as her writing blatantly showcases her desire to be social disproving her desire to live in
The main argument for Dickinson’s belonging in the transcendental movement is that her personal life was lived in isolation, which was a common theme amongst transcendental authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Dickinson’s writing, however, says otherwise, as she writes about instances in which she develops relations with others denouncing beliefs of her devotion to isolation. In Dickinson’s poem, If You were Coming in the Fall, Dickinson describes her relationship with someone very close to her writing “if I could see you in a year, I’d wind the months in balls, And put them each in separate drawers, Until their time befalls”(Dickinson 5-8). Emily Dickinson’s social relationship with this other person serves as evidence that she did not wish to live an isolated life, as she clearly wanted very much to see the person she writes about. If Dickinson was truly a transcendentalist, then she would never begin to mention the possible benefits of having someone else involved in her life, as it defies all transcendentalist beliefs. Furthermore, the pure accusation of Dickinson being a transcendentalist purely on her social life and not based upon any further information is preposterous, as the movements are mainly dictated upon the writing styles of the time and not the authors and their personal lives. The accusation of Emily Dickinson being a member of the transcendentalist movement is farfetched, as her writing blatantly showcases her desire to be social disproving her desire to live in