Death in Emily Dickenson

Death in Emily Dickenson

With the thought of death, many people become terrified as if it were some

creature lurking behind a door ready to capture them at any moment. Unlike many,

Emily Dickinson was infatuated with death and sought after it only to try and help

answer the many questions which she pondered so often. Her poetry best illustrates

the answers as to why she wrote about it constantly. She explains her reason for

writing poetry, “I had a terror I could tell to none-and so I sing, as the Boy does by

the Burying Ground-because I am afraid.”(Johnson xxiii). There is no doubt that

Emily Dickinson is frightened of death and the unknown life after it. To release her

fears, she simply “sings” her song in poetry. Still, little is known to why she truly

wrote of death and life after death; yet it is apparent that many have tried to explore

the subject at hand.

Growing up in the 1830’s, Emily Dickinson spent nearly her entire life in the

Amherst, Massachusetts, house were she composed many of the unforgettable poetry

she is famous for today. Dickinson, often labeled as “the Virginal nun of Amherst”,

has been said to be “anything but a total recluse” (Conarro 71). She spent her time

reading influential books and magazines such as the Springfield, Massachusetts

Republican, the Bible, George Eliot, Keats, Emerson, Sir Thomas Brown, and

especially Shakespeare. Emily Dickinson also spent numerous hours tending to her

garden and relishing the intimacy of long-distance relationships (Conarro 71-2). One

such relationship was a preacher named Wadsworth, whom she loved dearly.

Johnson points out the reason for her act of seclusion was t...

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