Emily Dickinson Essay Example for Free

Emily Dickinson Essay Emily Dickinson’s place in history has affected many aspects of social order. Dickinson’s writing touched on many issues that were very important to the life and development of Dickinson’s persona; such as religion, war, psychosis, and love. Dickinson’s insight into these issues has been the source of the majority of the interest in her work. Emily Dickenson, throughout her life, sought a personal understanding of God and his place within her life. Her place within the Calvinist Puritan Amherst, however, would not allow for her inquiry into the understanding of the nature of God other than within their specific doctrine. In her childhood Emily Dickenson was shy and already different from the others. Like all the Dickinson children, male or female, Emily was sent for formal education to Amherst Academy. Dickenson began to develop into a free willed person. Many of her friends had converted to Christianity, and her family was also exerting enormous amount of pressure on her to convert. Her father, along with the rest of the family, had become Christians and she alone decided to rebel against that and reject the Church. She had rejected the traditional views in life and adopted the new transcendental outlook. Dickenson’s questioning about God began at an early age. â€Å"Once (to Higginson) she recorded another bit of mystification at adult behavior†. (Sewell 326) As Sewell recounts, Dickinson’s reservations about the nature of God began as early as her genius. As a child, we are told Dickenson felt a disturbance in the speech of a clergyman during as funeral. â€Å"[She was] disturbed by the clergyman’s question, ‘Is the Arm of the Lord shortened that it cannot save? ’†(Sewell 326) Dickinson’s poetry is a window into her quest for this understanding. In poem number 1241, Dickinson concentrates on nature and its relativity to science. Dickinson looks upon a lilac in the late light of a setting sun. Set on a hill, it receives the last light of day, and subsequently, is the last thing that God sees of that day. The sun is given the action of intending the lilac to be meant for â€Å"Contemplation – not to Touch†. I think this is an allusion to the Calvinist ideal of seeking God through action. Dickinson felt that the actions of the church that surrounded her were hollow and led one no closer to understanding the true nature of God than she had attained in her poetic questionings. The flower is given, above humanity, the focus of God’s eye. â€Å"The scientist of Faith† that Dickinson speaks of in this poem is denied any furthering of his understanding when she says: â€Å"His research has but just begun / Above his synthesis / The Flora unimpeachable / To Time’s Analysis’’. Here, Dickinson is saying that it is not through active searching that one will find the true nature of God, but in the witnessing of His actions—such as the creation of lilacs. She ends the poem with the line â€Å"Eye hath not seen† may possibly / Be current with the blind / But let not Revelation / By theses be detained†. This tells the reader that Dickinson felt that the active search for God, (with the eye) will fail. However, the â€Å"blind† will not have their revelations detained. In the poem #564 Dickinson centers on the physical building of churches as a problem with her understanding of God. Within this poem Dickinson tells the reader that the deification of the man made houses of worship also distract from one’s understanding of God. The line â€Å"God grows above—so those who pray / Horizons—must ascend† illustrates Dickinson’s idea that limiting one’s view, as in focusing on a building rather than God himself, would hinder one’s ability to see God. Dickinson goes on to clarify, succinctly, her feelings on the worshiping of God through churches: â€Å"His house was not—no sign had He / By Chimney—nor by Door / Could I infer his Residence— / Vast Prairies of Air† Dickinson tells the reader that nothing tangible or built by the hand of man has been seen by God as His house. Dickenson contends that there is a separation between â€Å"praying and â€Å"worshipping†. The churches used by the people around Dickinson are used to â€Å"worship† and show the action of belief. Whereas praying is the only way to â€Å"reach† God and prove one’s heart as a believer. In the poem numbered 1499, Dickinson again questions the physical place worship by calling insecure the â€Å"Physiognomy† of the Calvinist theology. Dickinson begins this poem by acknowledging the temporality of the human visage: â€Å"How firm Eternity must look / To Crumbling men†. Dickinson obviously feels that the â€Å"face value† of religion is passing and worthless. She felt that the eternality of action and the long lasting effects of true faith were far more important and worth while. The questions raised by Emily Dickenson within her poetry, echoes the problems that people have had with religion for ages—where does the truth about God reside? Dickenson wanted to find a peace that accompanied the acceptance of God; however her exposure to the Calvinist Puritans stifled that. Her distain and mistrust from the sect resounded throughout her life and her poetry. Though not all of her poetry maintained such as hard line rejection of Puritan ideals, the ones selected here illustrate her desire to find something else, outside of the Calvinist dogma that better explained to her the nature of God. It has been â€Å"suggested that [the] contradictions in Emily Dickinson [‘s poetry] were due to her dual nature, which made her at once a pagan and a â€Å"sincerely religious woman. † (Voigt 193) This constant pull within her life, caused Dickinson to struggle throughout her lifetime with her desire to loved by God, and her inability to accept the blind faith that accompanies devotion to religion. The several poems that I am looking at are examples of how Emily Dickinson’s lack of center and acceptance manifested itself into poetry. In poem numbered 315, for example, the fumbling of the unnamed â€Å"he† at the soul of the narrator is immediately seen as the ultimate of personal invasions. The hap-hazard bumbling of this â€Å"he† is made worse by the â€Å"stun[ning]† that is caused by this invasion. The different degrees of this stunned soul hints at the multiple levels of invasion that is taking place—emotional, physical and, presumably, spiritual. The objectifying human â€Å"Nature† as brittle is an obvious tool to illustrate the suffering that humanity is plagued with throughout their lives. It also brings in the idea of death and mortality to the concept of human existence. The â€Å"he† deals the final blow the brittle human narrator with â€Å"One – Imperial – Thunderbolt† (315. 11) This assumed death, however, does not promise an escape from the constant suffering of life, but instead we learn that â€Å"The Universe – is still –â€Å" (315. 12) The final dash after â€Å"still† tells the reader that the universe is still moving, turning, and continuing the pain that the narrator wishes to be freed from. The Civil War was another issue that was addressed by Dickinson. With the poem, â€Å"The name – of it – is ‘Autumn’†, Dickinson uses natural imagery to describe the horrors of war. David Cody wrote, in his article on the poem, that Dickinsons poem continues both to beckon and to baffle its readers, and the present essay is devoted not so much to an attempt to guess its meaning as to the more modest task of recalling or reviving, palingenetically as it were, some faint ghost or echo at least of the rich, complex and increasingly remote cultural moment in which it came into being. Precisely because it seems to embody. (Cody 24) Ed Folsom wrote that her poem, numbered 754 â€Å"My Life has stood – a loaded gun†; â€Å"explicitly with the Master/slave relationship†. (Folsom) The poem identifies with the slave’s reality of being worthless until pressed into service by the master. The work that Dickinson did during her lifetime was as diversely inspired as it was cryptic. However, the subjects that were covered by her work still hold enough interest and importance to warrant a continued study. The questions that Dickinson raised about religion, echoed the questions of many people who were slowly becoming disenfranchised with the Calvinist movement. Her own issues with psychosis were also subject to her eye. The poems she wrote about her lack of understanding of the world, and the fear that kept her secluded from society offer a deep insight into her mind. WORK CITED The Complete Poems of Emily Dickenson. Johnson, Thomas H. Ed. Little Brown and Co. New York. 1961. The Inner Life of Emily Dickinson. Voigt, Gilbert P. College English. Vol. 3. No. 2. (Nov. 1941). 192-196. The Life of Emily Dickinson. Sewell, Richard Benson. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA. 1994. Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters, ed. by Thomas H. Johnson and Theodora Ward. Cambridge MA. Harvard University Press. 1958. Cody, David Blood in the Basin: The Civil War in Emily Dickinson The name of it is Autumn The Emily Dickinson Journal. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Volume 12, Number 1, Spring 2003, pp. 25-52 Folsom, Ed. â€Å"Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and the Civil War†. University of Iowa. 2003. Date of Access: July 26, 2006. URL: http://www. classroomelectric. org/volume2/folsom/

Lady In A Rocking Chair Essay -- essays research papers

Back … forth … back … forth … she sits in her creaky rocking chair pleasantly reminiscing about her lost childhood as she crochets a warm fuzzy quilt for her granddaughter. Out of nowhere her desire to finish the quilt before noon fades and she find her attention drifting towards the window and looking at a giant maple tree bejeweled in sparkling frost. The tree is old and withered, it has aged immensely; it is somewhat like the old woman … even the texture of the bark is likened to the wrinkles on her face and body. Beyond the bark there is a history of both painful wounds and happy memories, each and every one just as vivid as the next. It is astounding how this tree, such an ordinary and natural commodity can bring back so many fond and colorful memories. One of the lower branches of the tree appears to be mangled and frayed. She remembers it when it was in perfect condition, housing a handmade, wooden swing hanging from a brand new strand of coarse r ope. Over the years the rope had turned from a brilliant golden-yellow to an almost brownish-amber. She would come home each day and was always comforted by that same tree and that same swing, though she never understood why because to everyone else, it was just a tree, but to her, it was as comforting as a warm fuzzy blanket. She remembered attending her first day of school when she was a young child. Everything was so unfamiliar to her; new faces, new voices, a whole new world she could then discover on her own, without her mother holding her hand. Unfortunately the fun she expected to have did not go as she could have hoped. It was a seldom occurrence for anyone to ask her to play with them. She spent most of the school day in seclusion quietly playing in the corner with an array of plastic blocks. At certain points she just wanted to cry or go back home to the warm, loving arms of her mother; that is where she felt safe and shielded from the evil of the world. Somehow, no matter how bad her day had gone, her mother could always make it all go away with a soft kiss to the cheek and a gentle pat on the bum. She would always pack a nutritious lunch for her to take to school. There was something about the way a mother makes a sandwich that makes it taste so much better than when you try to make it yourself , maybe it’s because it’s made w... ...t year, the worst happened. She was diagnosed with cancer, the same kind her mother had died from just a few years back. The bad news hit her like a ton of bricks. Ingo attempted to ease her pain by taking her out and doing all sorts of fun activities, but she found herself getting even more depressed and frustrated every time they went out. To her, it was just a reminder of the bad news and what was yet to come. Her condition began to worsen each and every day. It was unbearable for the family to watch, and as painful as it was to do, they began to avoid her. Anytime they tried to comfort her, she would only snap at them, even though she knew they were only trying to help and had her best interests at heart. Here she sits, rocking in her rocking chair, back … forth … back … forth … with her quilt nearly finished now. Her rocking chair creaks with each subtle movement and eventually the creaking diminishes to a faint sound and finally no sound at all. She had left the world in peace quicker than she had entered it but still much too soon. I guess it’s true what they say about your life flashing before your eyes just before you die.

Isak Dinesen’s “The Blue Jar” Essay

Blue Roller coasters are the best rides at amusement parks. On the way up your head is filed with mixed emotions and your body tingles with anticipation. On the way down your mind no longer thinks but reacts to the track ahead and your body is filled with excitement. Then, it is over. The ride was short and ended as quickly as it begun. Isak Dinesen’s â€Å"The Blue Jar† is like a roller coaster. Its plot follows the track of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion not once, but twice. Also, it isn’t only up and down but many twist and turns are discovered during the course of the plot as well. The effect of this unusual double plot exposes Helena’s character and her changes. The opening two paragraphs is the mini plot. The exposition introduces us to the main character, Lady Helena and her father, an old rich Englishman. They sail around the world to such places as Persia, Japan and China collecting blue china. The rising action is brief and consists of two words, â€Å"It happened.† Then the climax happens rapidly. The boat they are traveling on catches on fire and Helena is forgotten. Luckily, a young English sailor rescues her and carries her to a waiting lifeboat. The Falling action in the mini plot is their nine-day ordeal of floating for nine days before they are recovered. The conclusion of the concise plot is the Dutch merchantmen ship, Helena’s return to England, her reunion with her father and finally, the father paying and sending the young sailor who rescued her to the other hemisphere. The mini plot effects Helena in many ways. It shows the bond that Helena and her father have because they travel the world together. The old Englishman loves his daughter very much, â€Å"The old lord had believed his daughter to be dead. He now wept with joy, and at once took her off to a fashionable watering-place so that she might recover from the hard ships she has gone through.† The father loves her so much, he believes that it is unpleasant for Helena to think that she was rescued by someone from a lower class, â€Å"For what, would be the good of that.† The ending of the mini plot also arises questions about Helena. Is she going to recover? What is she going to do now? The mini plot also has grabbed the readers’ attention, drawn them into the story and changed the focus of the story to Helena. The major plot of the story has now taken over. The exposition is lady Helena’s recovery and her new apathetic view on life. The rising action entails that lady Helena has become obsessed with the perfect blue color. Even her father cannot distract her from her goal when he suggests that it might not exist. Helena’s reply, â€Å"Surely there must be some of it left from the time when all the world was blue.† The climax has Lady Helena ultimately finding her perfect blue jar she was in search of for so long. Her father has already passed away but Helena’s life is complete, â€Å"I have found it at last. This is the true blue.† The falling action takes over and her life’s meaning has ended, † now I can die. And when I am dead you will cut out my heart and lay it in the blue jar. For then everything will be as it was then. All shall be blue around me, and in the midst of the blue world my heart will be innocent and free, and will beat gently, like the wake that sings, like the drops that fall from an oar blade.† The conclusion is short; she dies shortly after her discovery. This major plot answers the question left by the mini plot. Yes, Helena recovers and she decided to look for a blue jar like her father use to collect blue china. This brings together the importance of the blue jar as it relates back to the mini plot exposure of Helena and her fathers bond. Her whole life she was surrounded by blue. When her and her father were sailing, she had the blue skies and the blue water. When she was at home with her father she had all the blue china. Blue meant safety and love to her and now her dead heart was engulfed in that same blue she had been looking for. The effect of this unusual double plot is that it exposes Helens true character. It also reveilles the love and bond Helena and her father share. Lastly, this unusual double plot makes the story interesting.

Movie Review Gone Girl - 909 Words

In recent years, movies based on books have become increasingly popular. It is now the norm for film trailers to advertise, â€Å"based on the best-selling novel.† This tends to cause some problems with fans of the book being portrayed. Some fans might not like the portrayal of the characters or how the movie doesn’t capture the same essence as the novel. But in some cases, people who have read the book enjoy the film more. In 2012, Gone Girl was published, and 2 years later the film was released into theaters. Movie reviewers from around the world offered their insight and opinions on the movie when compared to the novel. These reviewers targeted an audience who were fans of the book and interested moviegoers in general. The argument, ‘book versus movie’ takes many different sides in regarding Gone Girl, from reviewers favoring the novel more or vice versa, and some that fall in the middle. Owen Gleiberman, a film reviewer for BBC News, made it clear tha t he thought the book was better than the movie. Gleiberman starts his review discussing how movies based on books aren’t the same nor as good, and how fans don’t seem to be that bothered by the differences. He goes on to summarize Gone Girl’s main plot and discusses the actors, characters and their background information. In the second section of the review, Gleiberman reminisces over the novel and how the movie doesn’t offer the same feel in regarding the marriage between the two main characters. The rest ofShow MoreRelatedGone Baby Gone Essay1718 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Æ' Gone Baby Gone directed by Ben Affleck is centered on the kidnapping of a four-year old girl named Amanda. This movie is based in Boston in the Dorchester area. Even though this movie is centered on a kidnapping, there are other crimes being committed. In this film there is abuse of justice, negligence, police corruption, child molestation, drug abuse, and murder. Each of the main characters in this film commits a crime. The main characters in this film are Patrick Kenzie; the private investigatorRead MoreTaken Review1262 Words   |  6 PagesMovie Review #2 ___________________ A Paper Presented to Dr. Scott Hawkins Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary ___________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course PACO 604 Crisis Counseling ___________________ by Michael Bruce Plont November 18, 2009 Nature of the Crisis The movie that I chose to review is entitled â€Å"Taken†, which stars actor Liam Neeson as he plays the part of Bryan Mills. The â€Å"crisis† of the movieRead MoreGet Out Movie Analysis989 Words   |  4 Pagesthe Bubble Get Out is a mysterious movie that captures your attention right from the beginning. From the instant the movie commenced, I was left with many questions in my head. Why is this person walking alone into the pitch black night in a lonely neighborhood? More importantly, why is an unknown car following his every step? Giving you different perspectives from the starting point of the movie making you wonder what may occur next. Throughout the movie, it has an agenda of unsettling the audienceRead MoreThe Style Of David Fincher s Se7en1386 Words   |  6 PagesConclusion xix References xxi Style of Se7en by David Fincher 1. Introduction The movie selected for this particular assignment was David Fincher’s Se7en, which is an adaptation of the screenplay written by Andrew Kevin Walker, the movie was released in 1995. The movie falls under the genres of drama, mystery and thriller. All the three genres provide the viewers with incomplete information adding to the suspense of the movie. According to the Hill (2010), suspense is an external environmental stimulusRead MoreThe Outsiders By S. E. Hinton1718 Words   |  7 PagesMajor Work Review Guide Title: The Outsiders Author: S.E. Hinton Published: 1967 by Viking Press Significant characters and brief statement of function in the work: Name: Function: 1. Pony boy Curtis- The narrator of the story. Ponyboy’s love for literature and academics make him different from the rest of the gang. He’s also the youngest. Because his parents died in a car accident, Ponyboy lives with his brothers. His oldest brother accuses him of lacking common sense but, ponyboy is a reliableRead MoreThoroughly Modern Millie is an upbeat musical about a girl with big hopes and dreams in 1920s New700 Words   |  3 Pagesupbeat musical about a girl with big hopes and dreams in 1920s New York City. The show involves large ensemble dance numbers and fantastic vocal performances. It received rave reviews from the first preview and songs from the show can still be heard at auditions around the world. Thoroughly Modern Millie is truly a show that all ages can enjoy and love. Originally, Thoroughly Modern Millie was a 1967 movie-musical starring Julie Andrews as the title role. Both the movie and broadway show are doneRead MoreThe Importance Of Maths In My Life1334 Words   |  6 PagesHas some trouble with the house number and her phone number; gets the numbers confused. We continue to work on memorizing address and phone number with different activities. We have worked on sight words and basic math using games and workbooks to review. We have worked in workbooks to learn about the different states and to learn about different animals. Elizabeth says She likes to do the workbooks. She has participated in indoor game nights and enjoys a spa night once a week. She says She likesRead More Do Your Thing Honey!1434 Words   |  6 Pagesspectacular. When Rihanna came onto the scene, there were plenty of young female singers who wanted to put their staple into music. To be successful for a music artist, it all relies on timing. If too much time passes, a st ar is forgotten. Rihanna is a girl with staying power. She goes on from one hit to the next, always staying fresh and current. Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988 in St. Michael Parish, on the Caribbean Island of Barbados to Monica and Ronald Fenty. She had a rockyRead MoreFilm Analysis - Sin Nombre950 Words   |  4 PagesFilm 1070 1 September 2013 Film Analysis/Personal Reflection: Sin Nombre The movie, â€Å"Sin Nombre† directed by, Cary Fukunaga, is about the story of a young man, by the name of Willy, living in Mexico, whom is a member of the gang known as â€Å"MS†. This film makes its audience familiar with the struggles of the journey for immigrants trying to make it to America. Willy’s commitment for the gang turns redundant when one of the other gang members murders his girlfriend. A series of events occur inRead MoreTwilight Movie Review - Interpersonal Communication Essay867 Words   |  4 PagesTwilight: Interpersonal Communication Movie Review Through the story of the characters and their interpersonal communication movies have become a household commodity and often times emerge as a mainstream â€Å"pop culture.† Twilight is the recent adaptation from novel to film based off the book by Stephanie Meyer released in 2005 by the same title. The film tells a story about the forbidden love between two individuals through the telling of a seventeen year-old girl. Through this forbidden love between