Emily Dickinson Outline And Annotated Bibliography

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Topic: Emily Dickinson’s life and how it affected her work

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst on December 10, 1830. She is considered an

introvert because she increasingly withdrew from public life and wrote poems about life, love

and death in the confines of her bedroom. Her feelings of desire and death are demonstrated

using unusual scenarios meant to stretch the readers’ thinking. Prior to her demise, Emily had

only made attempts to publish few of her poems because she chose to share them privately with

family and friends. It was not until after her death that her family discovered hundreds of poems

that Emily had crafted over the years. The majority of her works were influenced by the few

people that she met while growing up. She lost very many important people; hence, the central

themes in her poems are immortality and death. Her poems are addressed in the form of letters to

her family and friends. Today, her works are celebrated and she has become one of the most

influential writers in the history of American writing with influence on generations of people.

She is also remembered for her singular brilliance of style and integrity of vision.

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Outline

1. Introduction – Brief comment on the author and her poems. The reader is introduced to

the subject matter and to Emily Dickinson’s poetry ranges from many themes,

particularly death.

Thesis Statement: Emily Dickinson’s experiences throughout her lifetime have contributed to the

reoccurring motif of death present in her poems, such as ‘Wild Nights,’ ‘I felt a Funeral, in my

Brain’ and ‘because I could not stop for Death.’

2. Poem Analysis

I. “Wild Nights”- A summary of the major aspects of the poem stating the subject of the

poem.

II. “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”- Major events of the poem summarized, as well as the

subject of the poem.

III. “Because I could not stop for Death”- Likewise, the poem is summarized stating its

aspects and subject matter.

3. Emily Dickinson as a poet and a person

I. The author’s domestic duties and social life

II. The many deaths of family, friends and relatives that greatly influenced her poems.

III. Discuss particular aspects of the three poems that represent Emily’s work and compare

them to her life as a person.

4. Emily Dickinson’s other poems

I. Compare and contrast the three poems with a few of the author’s other work to find out

whether they possess similar themes.

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II. Mention of the large variety of literary devices used in poems and their similarity.

5. Conclusion

I. Concluding remarks on the various aspects present in the three poems that show evidence

of representation of Dickinson’s work.

II. Restate the thesis statement: Emily Dickinson’s experiences throughout her lifetime have

contributed to the reoccurring motif of death present in her poems, such as ‘Wild Nights,’

‘I felt a Funeral, in my Brain’ and ‘because I could not stop for Death.’

Annotated Bibliography

Cameron, Sharon. Lyric Time: Dickinson and the Limits of Genre. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins

University Press, 1981. Print.

The author offers an analysis and criticism of Dickinson’s poems and their contribution

to American poetry. Sharon Cameroon uses her book to raise some concerns such as the

temporal problems of Dickinson’s poems, which lie in the exaggerations of the features that

distinguish the lyric as a genre. However, the book is important because it focuses on death as a

theme and illustrates how some poems defend death. As seen, death is the central theme in many

of Emily’s poems, especially those being discussed in this paper. Hence, this book is particularly

important in providing additional information on the poems and their representation of Emily’s

work. The credibility of this source is assured because the author is well-known and supports her

ideas and opinions with facts.

Dauben, Miriam. "Emily Dickinson" - The Death Motif in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson.

Mnchen: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2010. Print.

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The themes of death and immortality are evident in much of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. In

her book, Miriam Dauben discusses the reasons for Emily’s interest in death. The source is vital

to this research because it provides insights on Emily as a poet and as a person, which is

significant in analyzing the three poems and determining ways they represent Emily’s work.

Likewise, the book presents many factors that influenced the theme of death in many of these

poems. More so, the poetry analysis against the background of Emily’s life and lifetime are

important to this research. By understanding the death motif, one is able to determine the

similarity between Emily as a poet and as a person. Death is common in both her life and in her

poems.

Dickinson, Emily. Wild Nights. Maidstone, Kent: Crescent Moon, 2012. Print.

The source contains Dickinson’s poem “Wild Nights,” which is relevant to this research.

“Wild Nights” is among the poems that written by Emily and which form the basis to the

research topic. Unlike other poems, the central theme in Wild Nights is love but is then followed

by a tragic incident leading to death. The book is useful to this research because it helps in the

poetry analysis section. Through this poem, we are able to find its connection with other works;

thus, it is confirming the research question that it is a representative of Emily’s work. It is

through analyzing the poem that the poetic rhythms, rhymes, forms, language, and syntax are

discovered.

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide For Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For

Death.” Farmington Hills: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2016. Print.

The poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is important as it is compared to other

poems. Therefore, understanding it in depth is the key to determining its role in establishing a

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connection between the three poems and Emily’s other work. Hence, the book offers modern

readers information on the subject of death. The study guide comprises of a plot summary and a

literary analysis of the poem to determine its subject. Additionally, the book discusses

Dickinson’s obsession with death and the reasons that attribute to it. It also evaluates the poem

stanza by stanza, which is necessary in poetry analysis.

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Emily Dickinson's ""I Felt a Funeral, In My

Brain"". Farmington Hills: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2016. Print.

The source contains a literature summary of the poem, which is connected to Emily’s

private life. The poem explores the workings of the human mind under stress to a point of mental

breakdown. The use of funeral in the poem translates to the stages of mental collapse till on is

‘laid to rest’. The sources helps to better understand the poem and its hidden meaning that the

author aimed at presenting to the world. The poem contains ambiguities that allow multiple

reading and the study guide helps by providing a literary analysis of the poem. The poem is part

of the three poems necessary in deciding whether or not they are a representative of Emily’s

work. Poems can be complicated and hard to understand but with the help of a study guide it is

easier it get the deeper meaning.

Leiter, Sharon. Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson: A Literary Reference to Her Life and

Work. New York, N.Y.: Facts on file Inc, 2007. Print.

The book gives basic biographical information about Dickinson and the beginning of her

writing career. It covers material about her life and literary career, and her vision and purpose of

poetry. According to the author, Emily Dickinson was attempting to find her identity through her

poems. Primarily, the source is important because it details the life and works of Emily

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Dickinson. It provides a biography of the author and includes her most famous poems, especially

the three poems needed for this research. As mentioned, death is a key theme in most of Emily’s

poems; hence, it is important to understand what drove her towards writing about death. As the

author mentions, it was due to the loss of the essential people in her life. Likewise, she had both

spiritual and literary influences in her life that helped shape her career as a poet. Majority of the

information required to complete this research is found in this source. The source is credible

because the author has written numerous books and supports her claims with facts.

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Emily Dickinson Outline and Annotated Bibliography

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