Emily Dickinson Traditionalist Beliefs

Emily Dickinson and The Traditionalist Views of Her Time Intro:
American poet Emily Dickinson(1830-1886) challenged the traditions of her family. The doubt is visible in her poetry, and some examples of these poems include “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” “I Felt A Funeral In My Brain,” “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died-,” “Heaven” -is what I cannot reach!,” “Some Keep the Sabbath going to Church-,” and “The Bustle in a House.” Dickinson was born in a time where religion was not an optional social construct. Thus, it was the only accepted idea that after death a person goes to heaven, and death can only occur physically. But Dickinson thought differently, she questions what death exactly is, if the afterlife is real, and what eternity

Emily Dickinson lived in Amherst, Massachusetts in her family’s home for much of her life. Her family was an important part of Amherst, “The Dickinsons were well known in Massachusetts. Her father was a lawyer and served as the treasurer of Amherst College…, and her grandfather was one of the colleges founders.”(Meyer 1042). The Dickinson family was an exceptional model for the people of Amherst, which is reflected greatly in the nature of their home and the success that the family members strived for. She depicts the air of her home in a letter to her brother, “...she once described the atmosphere in her father’s house as “pretty much all sobriety”(Meyer 1038, 1042). Dickinson’s father needed his family to live an utmost honorable life, which required absolute faith and following of social norms of the family. This was required of them not only because of the family’s fine history, but because of his position in the community, “...her father was an active town official and served in the General Court of Massachusetts, the state senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives.”(Meyer 1042). The reputation of her family forced Emily Dickinson to adhere the family’s beliefs and unspoken social rules of the time. This required behavior of Emily Dickinson is why her poems, can be interpreted to, reflect her rebellious views on death, heaven, and time. Having learned of her life and the legacy of her family, the family’s views can now be