Emily Dickinson Is A Transcendentalist

Transcendentalist is a philosophy that was started in the early 19th century. Walt Whitman, Ralph Emerson, and David Thoreau are some of the more popular writers of this movement. Emily Dickinson was born during the middle of this movement. Many people call her a transcendentalist writer. Others think that since Dickinson was influence by some of the writers of this time period, the ideas of transcendentalism just reflected in her own work. The question still remains, “Are people supposed to consider Emily Dickinson a transcendentalist write?” Transcendentalist focus on many different characteristics. They believed that people should act according to their own free will. People were connected to God on a personal level, therefore did not …show more content…
Nonconformity is presented in this poem. “The Soul Selects her own Society” demonstrates the nonconformist ideas. The soul rejects the outside world’s belief and traditions while the soul creates her own ideology and practices. Dickinson gives the soul a female identity by using the word “her”. This poem was written in 1862. Women did not have very much power or say during this time period. The female soul has power an authority that was completely against traditional gender roles because the female soul is rejecting society and creating her own path.
“The Soul Selects her own Society” also embodies self-reliance. “Then – shuts the Door“ The soul has shut everyone and everything out in the first stanza. She is determined that she will not depend on anyone or anything else from the outside world. The soul will not be persuaded by the outside world anymore. She is unmoved by chariots and emperors stopping at her gate. “Like Stone” The last line of the poem compares the soul to stone. Stone is really hard to move, and is nearly impossible to break. This is displaying that the soul is solid in her beliefs and her …show more content…
Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” communicates about this feeling that nature gives her. She uses the metaphor of being drunk to describe this exhilarating feeling she gets from nature. The beauty of nature intoxicates her more than what normal alcohol would. “When butterflies – renounce their ‘drams’/I shall drink the more!” Dickinson will continue to stay drunk until the butterflies renounce their “drams”. She does not want this feeling to end so she ends the poem by imagining herself leaning against the sun as it sets. Transcendentalist value the love that nature brings on its own. “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church-“embodies the idea of natural religion. “I keep it, staying at home” Dickinson does not go to church every Sunday to go to heaven. She believes that her relationship with God should be just between her and God. That is why she does not praise and worship with a clergyman, mediator, or sermon. “I’m going, all along” Transcendentalist practice religion for the sake of living. They do not fear what is to come in the future, but choose to focus on the moment. The belief that a person must live their life a certain wat to get to heaven is not what a transcendentalist