What sets Emily Dickinson apart from other poet/poetesses?

Question

What do you think of her writings? What about her style, perception, and insight gives you a look into yourself? In all honesty, do you like the way that she writes? Do you feel that she really is one of the greatest poetic minds? Give your thoughts freely.

Answer 1

She wrote in Ballad form, but she also was one of the first to change the way writers and readers viewed rhymes. She made a lot of use of off-rhymes, where the sound at the end of the word is he same, even if it's not spelled the same, or, conversly, where the end of the words are spelled the same/use the same letters, but don't sound the same (a visual rhyme, as opposed to an auditory one) -- there's other forms of off-rhyme too.

She was definitely a recluse, an only ever completed half of her education at mount holyoke college (which then had a two year program, so she completed one year) before returning home to amherst (about 20 minutes away, today, by car). She spent her days there, in a small house that overlooked the path All funeral processions would take. So, if you're wondering why so many of her poems are about death, it's b/c she was continually seeing the dead, and people in grief, parading past the front of her house.

Personally, I dislike her poetry a great deal. I respect what her style did for poetry as a whole, but I've never been touched by her verse/subject matter. I feel that she was repetative, and never really progressed in her work, not in style, and not in message. She seems, to me, the angsty teenager of the poetic world.
And it's hard to out-do poe on angst, but I think she managed it.

But then, I've met many people who love her poems. To each their own.

Answer 2

Emily Dickinson did not wish to be published or read by others. This sets her apart from other poets. When you read her poems you intrude into a poet's privacy. It is odd that people know the fact that she did not seek popularity and yet dare comment on her poems. One cannot be surprised in a world where people constantly crave for attention (often undeserved) and have lost the capacity to understand the meaning of Honor and privacy.

Answer 3

Emily Dickinson was very reclusive. She would hide in her room, barely seeing the outside world in her later years. Sometimes she would have a visitor and hide in a hallway and speak to them, never seeing them. Yet she wrote about love, and nature, and the world with such heartfelt emotion and clarity!

Her only known poems were verses she would send to close friends as gifts sometimes. Most of her published works were found after her death. They were in a chest, tied up in tiny packages with string.

Also, her rhyming was very interesting. She seems to be very casual and careless with her meter and rhyme. She would rhyme quite nicely, but then round out a poem with something to throw the whole thing off balance!

Yet, something remains very haunting and intriguing. She has been one of my favorite poets for years. I believe we all feel very secluded at times, as she really was...locked away in her house from the rest of the world. But she also admires natural beauty and love with rapturous ardor...which connects her to the love of beauty all poets share. When I read Emily Dickinson, I feel that someone "gets me"...even someone dead 120 years! This quality is something that "perfect" poetic composition can never replace.

Answer 4

i like her style. i think if you are a fan of emily dickenson than you will love her poetry. as a poet enthusiast i appreciate emily dickensons poetry. i haven't read more than a few of her poems, but normally thats enough to get a first impression, don'tchya think? she does not do much about avoiding those dashes. she uses them alot, but that is okay. alot of poets have their own styles, that is hers. her poetry isn't full of many truths, instead it comes off fictional, and a result of the flow she develops in her rhyming and sound. her sound is musical, but it does not develop away from the cliche sound of heightened speech. sometimes you feel your brain will fart, when you read poems, because of the gasping, and the stopping. emily dickenson does not really transcend these inherent difficulties of poem writing. i like all poets, but her poems express again....fictional expressions, which are a result of her expressing sound and rhyme which lead to the discovery of abstractly fictional situations within the poems expression. a great realist writer is william shakespeare. i think it takes more thought and respect to write out of truth, because fictional also is a product of laziness. it isn't ever a result of effort....but thats in poetry. when i say fictional, i mean that the thoughts and feelings are just made up feelings which do not make much coherent sense, and is not too relatable. we can understand the concept behind the feelings, but why she is expressing realistic themes like love, in fictional ways is not understood by me. its like she gets away from the point that she has to make. she may talk about daffodils and birds, but it does not make sense why she does that and how it realistically relates to some of the poem that she writes. it is okay to write about birds and flowers in love poetry, but she does not unite the meaning into what the love means, instead she will taper into some fictional feeling which makes no sense...the reason you understand its about love is she talks about it.

Answer 5

it is my opinion that all of Emily Dickinson's poetry - in some manner - is about masturbation. And, it is also my opinion that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Long live all recluses!

Answer 6

I think she is a great. She dove deeply into the unconventional aspects of the mind and soul. She was at times very dark.

Answer 7

I read only one of her peoms and it flowed nicley but wasnt my style...to be honest it was confusing...she was also kinda crazy.

Answer 8

prudence