Emily Dickinson Impact On American Culture Analysis

The Impact of Emily Dickinson on American Culture Emily Dickinson once wrote, “The Soul selects her own Society - Then - shuts the Door -To her divine Majority - Present no more- ”. Dickinson was born in the 1880s during America’s rapidly changing society. According to Matina S. Horner (1990), “New inventions enabled farmers to grow more crops while employing fewer laborers, and young people flocked from the countryside to booming cities, where advances in mechanization aided the development of factories.” (p. 19). Since the United States was industrializing quickly, many immigrants were enticed to flee their homeland for new opportunities. According to Newman and Schmalbach, “The growing connections between the United States and the world are evident during this

In this poem, Dickinson uses powerful diction to describe the journey from life to death. She personifies death as a man carrying her to the other side. Along the journey, the narrator sees the locations of significant moments that occurred in her life. A famous line in the poem is “Because I could not stop for Death / He kindly stopped for me” (Dickinson 1-2). Dickinson’s word choice suggests a somber tone. Dickinson organized the poem into six stanzas with four lines each. Dickinson’s other highly notable poem is “Hope is the thing with feathers”. “Hope is the thing With feathers” is considered to be another popular and recognizable poem by Emily Dickinson. The poem is written with three stanzas and four lines each. The speaker portrays hope as bird that sits in the soul. Dickinson uses the bird as a metaphor in the quote “Hope is the thing with Feathers / That perches in the soul” (Dickinson 1-2). Hopefulness is expressed throughout “And sweetest - in the gale - is heard” and in “That kep so many warm”. Because Dickinson’s works are still well-known and studied, she has created an impact on American