Give me your opinion on her. Do you think she is a psycho for locking herself up over a hundred pieces of poetry? Or do you think she is brilliant?
I really don't care if you've heard of her before, if you haven't.. what would you say to someone who locks themselves in a house to write poetry?
2007-03-26 10:43:25 · 3 answers · asked by Catherine M 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Yes, she certainly did lead a different sort of a life, as a recluse, a hermit, or whatever you wish to call it. In my opinion she had some issues. When she fell in love she fell in love very quickly but with men who were married or unavailable. She couldn't accept criticism of her poetry and wanted it all burned and destroyed after her death. She couldn't find love or happiness in anything and even when she died it was almost a kind of passive suicide because her condition could have been treated, if she had let the doctor come and examine her up close rather than having to examine her across the room.
Yes, she had issues and today, and I am not being flippant about this, they would probably have put her on Prozac or some other mood altering drug. She had many serious phobias and they should have been dealt with. Heaven knows she could not deal with them on her own and they eventually killed her.
Yet, I love her poetry. Much of it is deep and brilliant.
2007-03-26 11:19:54 · answer #1 · answered by John B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure being crazy and being brilliant are mutually exclusive things. For example, Sylvia Plath was clinically depressed, and she was certainly brilliant. Many famous authors or artists -- Hemmingway, Picasso, even Beethoven -- were "crazy" by psychological standards, but that didn't make them or their work any less amazing.
In fact, you could argue that Emily Dickinson was brilliant BECAUSE of her psychological problems. In my opinion, it would be hard to write a poem like "I died for beauty but was scarce" if you were perfectly sane. "First Robin" is another wonderful poem of hers that would have been impossible but for her phobias and neuroses.
Hope that helps answer your question ~
2007-03-26 18:42:42 · answer #2 · answered by watermelonhead5186 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't consider that "psycho." She was introverted and had a small social circle of friends. She never "locked herself away." Brilliant poetry though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickenson
2007-03-26 17:53:42 · answer #3 · answered by loves easy tears 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋