Research Paper On Emily Dickinson

Dickinson: A True Woman Women in the United States today have more rights than they ever have in the past. It is not a perfect system and may never be, but it is advanced immensely from what it was in the 1800’s. Many strong women helped to pave the road to equal rights for women, Emily Dickenson being one that gave women a voice. In an era when women were expected to be quiet, marry, raise babies, keep house, and basically assume all the domestic responsibilities, Dickinson spoke out softly in poems if only to express her feelings or yearnings for something more. It cannot be easy to go against the grain and express new ideas when so many people are stuck in the old age way of doing things, but luckily she had the courage despite her critics

However, that didn’t stop her from writing what she felt as Jeffs points out in his book. He writes, “Into a nineteenth century that stressed manhood and masculine words entered a woman poet whose writings upset social norms of language, literature, and sexuality: Emily Dickinson” (Jeffs). She wasn’t going to stop just because it was a man’s world at the time. His statement,” Dickinson's poetic power resides in her ability to be feminist, rebellious, and erotic in an age which forbade a woman to exhibit any such tendencies” completely sums up Dickinson’s presence in the 19th century(Jeffs). Dickinson had a spark about her that was evident in her writings and women could relate to her frustration about women’s rights. Women in 21st century can do it all, they do not have to choose a career or motherhood. In fact, it is now acceptable for men to stay at home and tend to the home and kids while the wife works. However, Dickinson’s era was not privilege to have those options. Juhasz states in his essay,” Dickinson understood the need to renounce her social self, because it was seen by society to be at odds with her creative or poet self” (Juhasz). She sacrificed so much in order to write, giving up her social status and life in order to pursue the thoughts in her head on paper. Juhasz makes a prolific discovery in which he says, “In other words, Dickinson gets to behave as a lady even

It only takes one person to start the change process, then others get on board and want to help too. Throughout history we have had lots of strong men and women who were courageous enough to stop up for injustices no matter what the cost. This sort of self-sacrifice is heroic to say the least. Without these lone rangers there would be no change and people would still be stuck in their afflictions and pain. In the 21st century change happens daily and it things can happen in an instant, probably because people are more apt to argue their opinions. In the 19th century displaying your public opinion was discouraged, especially if you were female. Females were seen as delicate and weak, and more of an object to be admired or looked at rather than to be heard. To step out and say or write something that others would see as foreign or ludicrous was probably very terrifying. One could not be sure if you would be stoned or hanged or thrown in prison, after all these were permitted of the times. Emily Dickinson had the courage and determination to throw her social life away and write about what she felt. She wasn’t afraid to be different or disliked, she would rather be herself than liked. She used her poems and life to express her thoughts, while inspiring other writers and women to step out of their wifely duties and see that there could be