Emily Dickinson’s Paradoxical View of Nature
by Bi Lili
Supervised by Zhang Huirong
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement
For the B. A. Degree
School of Foreign Languages
Anhui Science and Technology University
June 2010
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Abstract
Emily Dickinson is one of the most prominent American poets in the 19 th century. All
through her life, she wrote about 1775 poems among which more than 500 poems are about
nature. Her nature poems are not only fresh and unvarnished but also full of sensibility,
wisdom and exquisite observation. However, the feelings she holds toward nature are
paradoxical. On the one hand, Dickinson admires nature; loves nature; holds the feelings
that human can have a harmonious relationship with nature. On the other hand, she
considers nature to be mysterious and full of hostility. She also thinks that nature is the
riddle human beings can never guess. There is irreversible separation between human beings
and nature.
This paper attempts to interpret Dickinson’s paradoxical feelings toward nature and the
relationship between nature and human beings by introducing the cultural background and
her life experience, as well as analyzing some of her representative nature poems.
Dickinson’s nature poems are the reflection of her inner world, through which we can
realize her cognition toward life and world.
Key words: Emily Dickinson; view of nature; paradoxical views.
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中文摘要
爱米莉·狄金森(1830—1886) 是19世纪美国著名的女诗人。她一生共创作1775首
诗歌，其中有500多首是关于大自然的。其自然诗歌清新质朴，却又充满着诗人的感性、
智慧以及敏锐的观察。诗人对大自然的态度是矛盾的，她一方面崇拜自然，热爱自然，
认为人与自然可以和谐相处.另一方面，她认为大自然是一个谜，自然对人类的利益甚
至生命都漠不关心。大自然是冷酷的,无情的。人类与自然之间存在一道难以逾越的鸿
沟。这一类诗往往带有神秘的色彩。
关键词：艾米莉·狄金森；自然观；矛盾观.
Contents
Abstract in English-----------------------------------------------------------------------i
Abstract in Chinese----------------------------------------------------------------------ii
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Contents-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------iii
Chapter One Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------1
1.1 Literature Review ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
1.2 The Theme of the Thesis ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
1.3 The Framework of the Paper ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2
Chapter Two Emily Dickinson and Her Poetry ----------------------------------- 3
2.1 Emily Dickinson’s Life Experience ---------------------------------------------------------- 3
2.2 Emily Dickinson’s Poetry -----------------------------------------------------------------------3
Chapter Three Emily Dickinson’s Paradoxical View of Nature ----------------5
3.1 Paradoxical Views towards Nature------------------------------------------------------------5
3.1.1 The Beauty and Benevolence of Nature ---------------------------------------------------5
3.1.2 The Indifference and Mystery of Nature------------------------------------------------- 11
3.2 Paradoxical Views towards the Relationship between Human and Nature--------- 14
3.2.1 The Harmonious Relationship between Human and Nature---------------------------14
3.2.2 The Irreversible Separation between Human and Nature------------------------------17
Chapter Four Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------20
Acknowledgements ---------------------------------------------------------------------21
Abbreviations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22
Bibliography -----------------------------------------------------------------------------23
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Literature Review
Emily Dickinson (1830-1836) is one of the most famous American poets in 19th century.
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All her life she was never married and lived a life of seclusion. Her poems, just like her life,
are full of mystery. Since the first volume of Poems by Emily Dickinson (Higginson, 1890)
came out, people have showed their complex attitudes and comments to this “strange” literary
star.
1.2 The Theme of the Thesis
This paper tries to interpret Dickinson’s paradoxical feelings toward nature itself and the
relationship between nature and human beings through introducing the cultural background
and her life experience, as well as analyzing some of her representative nature poems. From
this thesis, we can make a better understanding of Dickinson’s contradictory view of nature.
1.3 The Framework of the Paper
In the first chapter, the author gives a general introduction about the achievements of
relevant researching at home and abroad, the theme and framework of this study. In chapter
two the author introduces Emily Dickinson’s life experience and her poetry. In chapter three
the author states the cultural background in her time and studies her paradoxical views
towards nature itself and the relationship between human and nature by analyzing her nature
poems. In the last chapter the author gives a conclusion about the whole thesis.
Chapter Two Emily Dickinson and Her Poetry
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2.1 Emily Dickinson’s Life Experience
Emily (Elizabeth) Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in one of the leading
Amherst’s families. Being the daughter of a prominent lawyer and politician, Dickinson got a
good education and attended the Amherst Academy where she got chances to building
friendships with others and enjoyed many subjects especially botany. She studied it and
collected specimens from forests, fields, and even her garden. Her knowledge of plants is the
beginning of her love of nature and later inspired her poetry greatly.
After her time at the academy, in 1847, Dickinson attended the South Hadley Female
Seminary. Although she was successful at college, Dickinson returned after only one year at
the seminary in 1848 to Amherst then she began her life of seclusion.
Chapter Four Conclusion
Nature is an eternal theme in the history of literature. Many people consider themselves
as the lovers of nature. But what is the real lover of nature？Emerson once defined him as
follows:
“The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other;
who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven
and earth becomes part of his daily food.” (Emerson, 1990: 18)
During her lifetime, almost everyday, Dickinson is involved herself in nature and
looking for the essence of nature and human beings. From this point, we can say that, she is a
real lover of nature and there are countless ties between her and transcendentalism. However,
unlike Emerson, she considers nature as a dangerous master and points out that man and
nature exist independently. In this sense, Dickinson negates Emerson’s optimism and idealism,
and forms her own viewpoint towards nature.
In more than 20 years’ reclusive life, Dickinson maintains the precious things in her
heart, which are perfectly expressed in her poems without omission (Liu Shoulan, 2006:25).
She lives to write “a letter to the world” that would express her ideas of the world and paint
what Henry James called “the landscape of the soul” (Chang Yaoxin, 2006: 103).
No matter what comments readers and scholars make, there is no doubt that her peculiar
writing skills, various themes of her poetry as well as her unusual life experience have
established Dickinson’s esteemed reputation as a great American poetess.
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Acknowledgements
My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor, Zhang Huirong, for her
constant encouragement and guidance. She has walked me through all the stages of the
writing of this thesis. Without her constant instruction, this thesis could not have reached its
present form. Also I feel very grateful to all the teachers and students at the Department of
English who have instructed and helped me a lot in the past four years.
My heartfelt thanks go to my parents for their constant support and understanding of all
my choices through the years. Special thanks are reserved to my boyfriend for his
consideration, support, without which it will be very difficult for me to complete four years’
study.
Abbreviations
P
refers to the Johnson edition of Emily Dickinson’s poems (The complete Poems of Emily
Dickinson, ed. Thomas H. Johnson. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company,
1960), followed by the numbers Johnson assigned to the poems.
Bibliography
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1.
Anderson, Charles R.. Emily Dickinson’s Poetry: Stairway of Surprise [M]. New York: Doubleday
Company, Inc., 1966.
2.
毕凤珊. 艾米莉狄金森的自然视角 [J]. 盐城师范学院学报(人文社会科学版) , 2004 , (4) : 33-36.
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