Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is recognized as one of America’s greatest poets. She was almost unknown as a poet during her lifetime. Dickinson’s poetry is unconventional and very different from other poets in many ways. Her poetry isn’t easily categorized because she uses forms such as rhyme and meter and puts unusual emphasis on words, through either capitalization or line position. Her grammatical structure is untraditional for that time period, but together this makes her poetry truly unique.  Dickinson’s poetry is written outside of the boundaries for that time period and she never wanted to or ever intended on sharing her writing with others. She wrote her poems for one audience and one audience only, which was herself.

Dickinson was a deeply passionate person who throughout her adult life wrote poems that were original in both content and technique. These poems influenced several generations of American poets. Her work is deeply personal and is usually concerned with such themes as death, love, immortality and religion. Many people could relate to her poems and the themes in them. These poems expressed what other people felt and were thinking too. People can still relate to her poems in today’s society.

Dickinson’s poem “Fame is a Fickle Food”, is used to show a comparison between fame and how suddenly it can be taken away from you. She compares it to the next course at a meal, it just comes and goes. One can be famous one moment and suddenly in the next breath become an ordinary person. Dickinson uses much of her own styles in her poem to truly give it its uniqueness. She uses dashes and capitalization of certain words and different metaphors.  Her work clearly steps out of the lines, proving once again how unique and American it can be. She reflects on the way things will always turn out, and that people will always be watching, and listening to gossip and other things that may not necessarily be true, but with fame one must realize that all of this comes too.

Many celebrities and stars can relate to this poem especially because they understand what it is like to deal with gossip and being in the spotlight. This poem could have been Dickinson’s view of the American people and their need for fame and wealth. America is a country that loves power, wealth, and fame and can never get enough of it. She witnessed this and wrote about it. She says once you get some of the spotlight it can ruin your life. Fame can be bitter and repulsive and do you no good.

Although Dickinson had withdrawn herself from the social aspect of her life, her poetry certainly did have a lot to do with the world. Along with many other great poets, there is always a deeper message within the words that the reader realizes. Her poetry could appear simple, but once it is understood and taken out of context, it reveals many deeper meanings. Her subjects are ones readers can relate to like love, death, nature, religion, and passage of time. Emily Dickinson’s witty and uniquely written poems stand as an interesting way into American poetry.