TotallyLost

[Katiebaby09]

Well I have this honors english project to do in the next few weeks and I'm lost. I need to learn everything I possibly can about emily dickinson and her poetry so I can write a research paper about her. I hardly even know where to begin. If anyone could help that would be great! I'm dying here!

[Sitaram]

Begin with google.com or similar search engine.... search on emily dickinson for starters. keep a file where you cut an past useful looking URLs (links). I am sure there is lots of material. Then sharpen your skills with the search engine by learning to use key words which will zero in on the kind of material you need. I will try to do some searches, post the links here, and also show you what key words I used while searching.

For example, if you find the name of a scholar who specializes in Emily Dickinson and then search on that scholar's name for more articles.

Sure you could start with simple, sparknotes.com type summaries, and wikipedia/encyclopedia articles... but this style of google searching will dig up some really unique things... things that will give you a different slant from run-of-the-mill... and make your thoughts on Dickinson stand out from the rest...


I just searched on

emily dickinson philosophical theological existential

The first think that catches my eye is:

Emily Dickinson once said, "Tell the truth but tell it slant. ...


So I might do some searches on "Tell the truth but tell it slant"

and here is another eye-catcher:

Emily Dickinson and the Art of Belief

which I could do subsequent searches on

and perhaps search on "Emily Dickinson, and the Poetics of Constraint"

(always enclose such search expressions in quote marks)

Judith Farr’s Emily Dickinson: A Collection of Critical Essays

Vincent P. Anderson, Emily Dickinson and the Disappearance of God


Whitman and Dickinson
M. Jimmie Killingsworth
` Whitman and Dickinson remain, de rigueur, the poets to contend with
in nineteenth-century America,'' Daneen Wardrop justly observes in her
new book Word, Birth, and Culture: The Poetry of Poe, Whitman, and
Dickinson. Wardrop's monograph joins two others--Stephen John Mack's
The Pragmatic Whitman: Reimagining American Democracy and Beth
Jensen's Leaving the M/other: Whitman, Kristeva, and Leaves of Grass--for
a strong showing this year in philosophical, psychological, and political
criticism. Scholarship on the two poets also benefits from important
contributions in contextual studies, including two major collections: The
Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson and Whitman East and West:
New Contexts for Reading Walt Whitman. The poets' international appeal,
evident in the Whitman collection, also comes clear in Emily Dickinson's
Marble Disc: A Poetics of Renunciation and Science by the Japanese scholar
Hiroko Uno. Among new articles and chapters, contextual and interpre-
tive scholarship also prevails, with significant new work in historical and
cultural criticism, comparative studies, and poetics.



http://www.futureofhumanity.org/TermPapers/Marlena%20Harold.htm

http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/american_literary_scholarship/v2002/2002.1killingsworth.pdf&session=49095967

Whitman and Dickinson
M. Jimmie Killingsworth
` Whitman and Dickinson remain, de rigueur, the poets to contend with
in nineteenth-century America,'' Daneen Wardrop justly observes in her
new book Word, Birth, and Culture: The Poetry of Poe, Whitman, and
Dickinson. Wardrop's monograph joins two others--Stephen John Mack's
The Pragmatic Whitman: Reimagining American Democracy and Beth
Jensen's Leaving the M/other: Whitman, Kristeva, and Leaves of Grass--for
a strong showing this year in philosophical, psychological, and political
criticism. Scholarship on the two poets also benefits from important
contributions in contextual studies, including two major collections: The
Cambridge Companion to Emily Dickinson and Whitman East and West:
New Contexts for Reading Walt Whitman. The poets' international appeal,
evident in the Whitman collection, also comes clear in Emily Dickinson's
Marble Disc: A Poetics of Renunciation and Science by the Japanese scholar
Hiroko Uno. Among new articles and chapters, contextual and interpre-
tive scholarship also prevails, with significant new work in historical and
cultural criticism, comparative studies, and poetics.




As I started with a quote I would like to end with a poem written by Emily Dickinson entitled “Nature, The Gentlest Mother.” I believe that reading and examining works of art that are inspired by nature and express love for nature provide a wonderful means to instill love of the Earth into others. This is a belief that I hold dear because I think that the way poetry (as well as other art forms) expresses love for the Earth, in a way that is free from reason, really gets to the meaning of love of the Earth. There is such a lack of reason behind so much poetry that many poets even make up words because we are at such a loss within the confines of linguistics!



“Nature, The Gentlest Mother.”



Nature, the gentlest mother,
Impatient of no child,
The feeblest or the waywardest,
Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill
By traveler is heard,
Restraining rampant squirrel
Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation,
A summer afternoon,—
Her household, her assembly;
And when the sun goes down

Her voice among the aisles
Incites the timid prayer
Of the minutest cricket,
The most unworthy flower.

When all the children sleep
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light her lamps;
Then, bending from the sky

With infinite affection
And infinite care,
Her golden finger on her lip,
Wills silence everywhere.

[Sitaram]

Now, for fun, let's google search on:

"Emily Dickinson" analysis style message

(note double quote marks only around the name "emily dickinson")

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2342/is_3_36/ai_94775626/pg_2

(and this search happens to bring us to various sparknotes links as well).

Of course, you will find a clutter of essay mills, and cheathouses, which you should generally avoid... but take a look at this one for some ideas, as it specializes on essays for Emily Dickinson (can you imagine!)

http://www.essays-on-dickinson.com/list2.html

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dickinson/712.htm


http://www.insitegrafx.hu/theanachronist/html/2001/limpar.html

[Sitaram]

Now, we are starting to hit "pay dirt"

(an old mining expression meaning this is useful, worth something.)

http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/dickinson/

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=567

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/enc/stories/s964520.htm

[Sitaram]

Its late (1:30am)... I must log off, but I have an unusual book here, written by a Japanese Professor of American Literature, called "Zen and the American Transcendentalists" (it mentions Emily).... so... between now (Tuesday) and Sunday I will try to find time to post some excerpts here from that book....

Hope these few things get you started, and give you some good ideas...

[Jay]

If you want to post something, why 'post some excerpts'? If anyone's interested enough they can ask you to post some, you could just sum it up and say what your thought is after reading the book (or parts of it).

What's a good idea?

[Sitaram]

What can I say? It was 1 in the morning, I was tired. But I saw someone who seemed frantic, a newcomer, their first post.

This is what caught my eye:

I hardly even know where to begin. If anyone could help that would be great! I'm dying here!


I stayed up an extra 30 minutes, so that I might offer something for them to find, should they come back looking.

And it seems like many new members do not realize what is available through search engines. But, they checked back, the would feel better to see any kind of response, than no response.


Perhaps there should be some link to a Logos/Admin approved/designed tutorial to help people use search engines more effectively. Then, all anyone would need to do is post that link, rather than re-inventing the wheel each time.


I can't see the harm in attempting to help someone who seems so lost and frantic and anxious like this in such a fashion. Sorry if it bothers you. My apologies. Annoying people is not my goal or intention.

[Logos]

Nope sorry I won't be advocating, approving or designing some sort of self-help method/tutorial for students needing help with homework :) I think everyone eventually finds their own method, but you can go right ahead Sitaram and continue to offer assistance to those who ask for it, there is nothing wrong with that, whatever your method is.




Perhaps there should be some link to a Logos/Admin approved/designed tutorial to help people use search engines more effectively. Then, all anyone would need to do is post that link, rather than re-inventing the wheel each time.


I can't see the harm in attempting to help someone who seems so lost and frantic and anxious like this in such a fashion. Sorry if it bothers you. My apologies. Annoying people is not my goal or intention.

[mono]

I notice that both of you seemed to intend well, Sitaram and Jay - Sitaram in providing information on Emily Dickinson, and Jay critiquing the information. What really matters in this thread, however, regards promoting facts about Dickinson, and maintaining the topic.

Well I have this honors english project to do in the next few weeks and I'm lost. I need to learn everything I possibly can about emily dickinson and her poetry so I can write a research paper about her. I hardly even know where to begin. If anyone could help that would be great! I'm dying here!
Hello, Katiebaby, welcome to the forum.
To begin, I think this website provides a relatively efficient, brief biography of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), found here:
http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/
Born in Amherst, Massachussetts to a very religious, Calvinist family, she began writing poetry at an early age, despite having limited education, until she attended Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. During her lifetime, she had under five published poems, but, now, over one-thousand, after her sister finding a bundle of poems, wrapped in twine after Dickinson's death. Following the death of her parents, she lived much of her life secluded, never leaving her home, and frequently known to dress completely in white, and her only communication with others involved either visitors or through letters.
For her poetry, many consider her a revelation in the poetry movement, deviating much from the trend of verse in her time - of late Romanticism and transcendentalism, while she wrote a unique style, containing assymetrical rhymes, near-rhymes, seemingly random capitalizing of certain nouns, and a much stronger use of metaphor, simile, and oxymorons, as in the following example:

I felt a funeral in my brain,
And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
That sense was breaking through.

And when they all were seated,
A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
My mind was going numb.

And then I heard them lift a box,
And creak across my soul
With those same boots of lead, again.
Then space began to toll

As all the heavens were a bell,
And Being but an ear,
And I and silence some strange race,
Wrecked, solitary, here.
Obviously, in this poem, one cannot have a funeral occur inside his/her brain, but this shows the use of very strong metaphor, symbolizing much more a death-like occurrence in her mind in which she may have wished for death, despite people she cared about mourning, in a very short summary. Notice the rhyming style (called a ballad), but especially the "near-rhyme" in the first stanza with "fro" and "through;" notice also the unnecessary capitalizing of "Being" in the final stanza.

My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,

So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
This poem, I think, very well outlines her use of oxymoron, the idea of life "closing twice before its close." I cannot doubt, with metaphor, too, that she meant something other than what the words sound; my interpretation, in a short summary, focuses on the idea of suffering more than necessary ("twice") when only one event of suffering requires life's close. Notice again, the common ballad style of verse, but, in this particular poem, perfect rhyme; and the capitalizing of "Immortality" in the first stanza, but no capitalizing of neither "heaven" nor "hell" in the final stanza.

I've known a Heaven like a tent
To wrap its shining yards,
Pluck up its stakes and disappear
Without the sound of boards
Or rip of nail, or carpenter,
But just the miles of stare
That signalize a show's retreat
In North America.
No trace, no figment of the thing
That dazzled yesterday,
No ring, no marvel;
Men and feats
Dissolved as utterly
As birds' far navigation
Discloses just a hue;
A plash of oars -a gaiety,
Then swallowed up to view.
I think this poem best views Dickinson's use of simile, with the beginning line, "I've known Heaven like a tent." This poem may seem a little more difficult to read, as many of Dickinson's writings seem, but, I think, it emphasizes much the transcendentalism and non-material dominance of the divine and ethereal over the material-based objects on Earth. As opposed to the last poem, notice the returning of capitalizing of "Heaven" in the first line.
I hope I have helped, and wish you the best of luck, Katiebaby. If I think of anything else to your benefit, I will surely post it, as I once did a big project on Emily Dickinson also, and still call her one of my favorite poets. :nod:

[blp]

Sorry, but I must ask: Mono, what is an 'asymmetrical rhyme'?

[mono]

Sorry, but I must ask: Mono, what is an 'asymmetrical rhyme'?
Hello, blp. No need to apologize, as I should actually apologize for not explaining myself further. I cannot quite think of a Dickinson poem immediately with asymmetrical rhyme, but, for example, the following Dickinson poem has a "ballad" style, meaning it has four lines per stanza, but only one rhyme on lines two and four:

A charm invests a face
Imperfectly beheld.
The lady dare not lift her veil
For fear it be dispelled.

But peers beyond her mesh,
And wishes, and denies,
'Lest interview annul a want
That image satisfies.
Something that Emily Dickinson admirably popularized involved twisting many such "fixed" rules in poetry (in a way, Walt Whitman demonstrated the same, as a, somewhat, vigilante poet). The above poem has symmetry in a ballad style poem, but, on occasion, instead of rhyming lines two and four in this style, she would rhyme lines one and three, or one and four, but one or more of the stanzas would persist its rhyme in lines two and four ("normal" ballad style).
I imagine that for such reasons, Dickinson received very little exposure and publication during her lifetime. I have a collection of her poetry and letters, and her only editor critiqued much of her style, calling asymmetrical rhyme imperfect and unfit, which most likely seemed Dickinson's intention.
Good luck, and I hope I explained things a little better. :)

[Katiebaby09]

Thanks for the help everyone... but some of you kinda made me feel like a first grader. No hard feelings though. And also, I do know how to use a search engine I was mainly just looking for a Emily D whiz who could fill me in on her life and such.

[mono]

Thanks for the help everyone... but some of you kinda made me feel like a first grader. No hard feelings though. And also, I do know how to use a search engine I was mainly just looking for a Emily D whiz who could fill me in on her life and such.
Hello again, Katiebaby.
Yes, using a search engine can seem somewhat confusing, but it comes with practice. Out of any search engine, I would recommend http://www.google.com/ - just type for what you search in the small field provided, and press enter; afterwards several links should appear, regarding what you searched.
If you look for biographical information on Emily Dickinson, a few good websites I found that may help (and a few with good pictures), I will copy and paste here for you:
A decent summarized biography - http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/emilybio.htm
A few good pictures - http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/edbio.htm
A site with some good links - http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95dec/dickinson.html
Another site with some excellent links - http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/dickinson.htm

Good luck, and never forget to cite your sources on your project, as some teachers get really strict about that. :nod:

[emelye1999]

Hello,
I'm new to the boards, but I can't believe how lucky I am to stumble accross this thread. I am currently in my final year at Uni and I am starting my dissertation. I knew that I wanted to write about Emily Dickinson, but there is so much to say! I had no idea what my title was going to be, but I think you have just sparked off an idea Sitaram. I love Emily's quote "Tell the truth but tell it slant" and I think that this may actually become the title for my essay.
If you have any other ideas I would really appreciate it.
Thanks again. xxxx

[Max Quicker]

Couldn't you have just gone to the library and do some work yourself? Even the simple act of looking her up in the Encyclopedia Britannica would have shown some effort.

[emelye1999]

Max, for your information, I have done lots of research and many essays on Emily Dickinson. The fact that I have done so much is making it hard for me to focus upon one idea. Comments, like you have made, are unhelpful and very pretentious. I personally do not understand why you waste your time coming onto networks such as this if you are only going to be rude.
I can only thank the other people for their generosity of their time and ideas. :wave:

[Dailen]

Max......

Had I a Mighty Hammer.

Dailen

[emelye1999]

LOL Dailen!