For growing up in a religious, Puritan household with traditional Christian beliefs, Emily Dickinson has challenged the power of religion in many of her poems. From refusing to be baptized, to staying home from church, Dickinson can easily be viewed as an anti-Christian author, when in fact, she was just struggling with the acceptance of god and the expectations that society has created that go hand in hand with being a Christian. Anti-Christian is a situation in which one denies or opposes Christ, which is not the case with Emily Dickinson. The struggle that comes with accepting God and his overwhelming power has been a common theme portrayed in many different ways in much of Dickinson’s work. Dickinson not only challenged the struggle of
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The first quote shows that instead of going to Church to mingle with others, she can still worship the Lord from her house. Dickinson shows in this statement that it does not matter where you worship, as long as you are worshiping. Saying you must go to church to be a Christian is like saying that in order to be an artist, that you must show off your work. Or in order to be a musician you must perform. Just because you do not publicly execute your beliefs does not mean you are not a believer. In today’s society it is believed that if you do not attend church, then you are not religious, Dickinson challenges this notion in her work. The second quote shows that Dickinson does not believe that in order to worship the Lord on a Sunday, you must be dressed in accordance. The Lord does not care what you are wearing when you are worshiping him, which is just a fabricated belief that society has created in order for Christians to dress proper when attending service. If this notion was true doesn’t that mean that you must dress nice when you are worshiping the Lord at all times? And if so, why are we able to pray at night when we are in our sleepwear. The belief that you must dress presentable to worship, once again, is just a fabricated belief created by society. This is why she states that she only “wear(s) her Wings.” In this line Dickinson is hinting that she believes herself to be one of Gods angels, worshiping him at all costs. She finishes off this poem with a piercing statement “So
The first quote shows that instead of going to Church to mingle with others, she can still worship the Lord from her house. Dickinson shows in this statement that it does not matter where you worship, as long as you are worshiping. Saying you must go to church to be a Christian is like saying that in order to be an artist, that you must show off your work. Or in order to be a musician you must perform. Just because you do not publicly execute your beliefs does not mean you are not a believer. In today’s society it is believed that if you do not attend church, then you are not religious, Dickinson challenges this notion in her work. The second quote shows that Dickinson does not believe that in order to worship the Lord on a Sunday, you must be dressed in accordance. The Lord does not care what you are wearing when you are worshiping him, which is just a fabricated belief that society has created in order for Christians to dress proper when attending service. If this notion was true doesn’t that mean that you must dress nice when you are worshiping the Lord at all times? And if so, why are we able to pray at night when we are in our sleepwear. The belief that you must dress presentable to worship, once again, is just a fabricated belief created by society. This is why she states that she only “wear(s) her Wings.” In this line Dickinson is hinting that she believes herself to be one of Gods angels, worshiping him at all costs. She finishes off this poem with a piercing statement “So