Emily Dickinson is a Transcendentalist

Detailed Analysis">Detailed Analysis

Emily Dickinson's one of those poets from the 19th century that people just can’t stop talking about. Her style’s kinda unique, you know? She digs deep into themes like nature, spirituality, and what it means to be human. Some folks even call her a transcendentalist. Let’s look at why they might be right.

Nature

Alright, so transcendentalism is big on this idea that nature is pretty much awesome and has the power to lift us up. Dickinson’s poetry? Full of nature references. She uses it as a way to talk about our emotions and experiences. In "A Bird came down the Walk," she writes about a bird munching on a worm: "He bit an Angleworm in halves / And ate the fellow, raw." It’s more than just bird eats worm; it’s life and death in nature, showing how everything's connected. That’s classic transcendentalism right there.

Spirituality

Transcendentalists really dig personal spiritual journeys and intuition too. Dickinson? Oh yeah, she’s all over that. Her poem "Because I could not stop for Death" talks about death like it's a polite gentleman taking her for a ride to forever-land. Death isn't scary here; it’s peaceful and natural—totally fits with transcendentalist ideas about life after death being just part of the cycle.

Human Experience

Now let’s chat about self-reliance and believing people are naturally good, another big thing for transcendentalists. Dickinson looks at love, loss, meaning—all the messy stuff in life. Take her poem "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" where she questions society and its rules, pushing for individuality over just fitting in. She's saying everyone should embrace their own weirdness—that's very much what transcendentalism is about.

Concluding Remarks">Concluding Remarks

So there you have it. Emily Dickinson fits right into the transcendentalist mold with how she dives into nature, spirituality, and being human. Her work still speaks to us today because those ideas never really go outta style, do they?

References

1. Dickinson, E. (1891). Poems by Emily Dickinson: Series One.
2. Buell, L. (1995). The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture.
3. Cameron, S. (1979). Lyric Time: Dickinson and the Limits of Genre.
4. Miller, C.R., & Cameron S.L., eds (1998). The Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson.
5. Otis, B.C., & Westbrook P.J., eds (1984). Critical Essays on Emily Dickinson.