Transcendentalism In Emily Dickinson's Poetry

A rebel, pioneer, recluse, and one of the founders of an idea that would sweep the world. No, it is not Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson is one of the most influential writers of the industrial era, as she was one of the first writers to use the concept of transcendentalism in her works. This means writing about all aspects of life, even the mundane, the vulgar, and the ugly as she realized that this style of writing more closely resembles life than the classic, formal style of writing used previously. Many of Emily Dickson’s poems revolve around similar themes: love, strength, individuality, but most importantly, death. This theme is brilliantly expressed in her poem I heard a Fly buzz - when I died through the use of irony …show more content…
Ironically, just a fly appears, to the dismay of the characters in the poem. This seems to represent Dickinson’s own beliefs in regards to religion. Despite being a Christian, she did not attend church and had a very personal relationship with God, but perhaps she harbored some doubts about life after death, and as such, wrote this poem to express this sentiment. It is also possible that she was following Emerson’s transcendentalist ideas by writing about something not much written about at the time. In accordance with this theory Shira Wolowski writes, “Dickinson's work, in its recalcitrant selfhood, specifically recalls Emerson's writings, and it also more broadly refers to the general and looming concern with autonomy and individualism so central to American culture.” This idea would certainly make sense, as Dickinson was already creating her own style of writing through the use of capitalization and pauses to create a sense of suspense and give emphasis to certain words or phrases, so writing something which goes against the status quo is not something she would not