Emily Dickinson:-
“Letter to Mr. Samuel:-
1. Examine Emily
Dickenson as a letter writer with reference to the letters prescribed for you.
Or
What impressions do
you from Dickenson’s personality from her letters.
Answer:-
Miss
Dickenson’s life was totally devoid of our world events. She did not choose to
avail herself of whatever social life was available to her. Such an attitude
gradually made her life a complete solitude. In a letter dated 1853, when she
was only 23 years old, she remarked, “I do not go for home”. By the time she
was thirty, the habit of leading and isolated existence had become very strong.
Emily’s
position in American literary history has been subjected to considerable
scrutiny ever since she came to be recognizing as a major voice of 19th
century literature. Her life style and self imposed to cocooned existent have
led critics to speculate about her pre-occupation and priorities as an individual
and also as a writer. She kept no journal or diary. So the letters became to
major source for the literary detectives engaged in reconstructing her life and
work. Her letters were so an existing and engaged mind at work. The objective
of the study of her letters however cannot be reduced to an engagement with
statistical information because these letters have a greater emotional and
passionate relevance than just the articulation of facts.
Miss
Dickenson’s letters are a unique contribution to the American literature. Her
letters are just like a poetry which unfolds the personality of its creator.
Emily Dickenson approached to the use of language and the use of diction just
like an explorer of new lands; it offered her the excitement of adventures. She
used words as if she was the first to do so with such a joy that was never felt
by the poet. She also used them with a creator’s license, coining them with a
free hand. The use of language in her letters shows Emily Dickenson’s
simplicity in her life style. She used many every day words that normally used
in an informed communication. Not everything in the letters shows the private
world of Dickenson. There are some references about the incidents and illness,
events and accounts which project her response to the developments around her.
Certain common concerns such as her love for nature, her fascination for home, strong
convictions regarding individual and society get revealed in her letters to
various correspondences.
There
is the striking impression of simplicity and noticeable lack of self
consciousness in the various positions that she adopted. She was not familiar
with the pressures of public performance that affected writers like Emerson and
Whitman. Interestingly small domestic details occupy the same space of
importance as the concern about her poetic composition. She was much closed
reader of Bible and there numerous references that show her deep knowledge of
Christian theology.
The
two letters prescribe are the latter to Mr. Bowles which cover a period of more
than two decades of correspondence. Emily wrote to both Samuel and Mary Bowles,
more intimately to the later on different occasions. Each letter other than the
content had some poems inscribed or some short messages which show the close
bonding between Emily and Marry that developed over the period. Marry was one
of the few with whom Emily was regularly in touch with the themes of these
letters ranged from gardening to domestic management, individuality and social
responsibility but in each of the letter there is a sense of wit that holds the
thread of these letters together. We can also get to know about the private
space of Emily Dickenson and her personal interest including her close
relationship with her dog, Carlo and her immediate family environment. In the
first letter Emily addressed Marry as “Dear Marry” and discuss about her
passion and passionate memories of life. In the 2nd letter, which
was written in 1861, on the birth of a son to the couple, Emily congratulated
them and also inscribed a poem with the little “Baby” which shows Emily’s
concern for the upbringing of the new born baby.
These
letters provide us the opportunity to get glimpse of a creative personality,
whose private world was full of excitement but almost remained mysterious for
the common readers. The words in these letters clearly indicate the joy that
she derived from the small things of regular existence.
Note: This note is only for a little help and better understanding, you should add some more to get score marks & advised to read the main text. By P.B.