ipl-logo

The Role Of Isolation In Emily Dickinson's Poetry

965 Words4 Pages

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst , Massachusetts (Crumbley 1). The greater part of her life was consciously spent in seclusion, where she was free to exercise her zeal for literature. During this time she wrote poetry which reflected many of the social issues of the era with unorthodox syntax and brevity. An example being “The Soul selects her own Society”. Literary conventions such as double entendres, the repetition of selection and rejection, and images of isolation depict the female speaker’s perspective on marriage which is used by Dickinson to express the issue of the limited status of women during the mid-nineteenth century. Double entendres explain the female speaker’s role in marriage and society, and her sexual …show more content…

The female speaker is used to exercise agency. Dickinson may be proposing rejecting marriage as a means of rebelling against its hardships, she does so by portraying the sorrows of married life. Once the “Soul selects her own Society” then the door to her divine majority must be closed eternally, with the Soul itself no longer an active member of her community (the soul being an alternate persona of the female speaker). The Soul fulfills its purpose by marrying, removing the need to interact with all men and increasing domestic responsibilities, with isolation from the rest of society represented as a byproduct of marriage. The female speaker blames marriage for making the Soul an individual entity removed from everyone. This is demonstrated by “I’ve known her—from an ample nation—Choose One—Then—close the Valves of her attention” (Dickinson 303). The Soul recognizes a past self (unmarried female speaker) as a member of a large group, and recognizes that marriage her loss of participation in society, isolating her from the rest of her peers. Dickinson, uses the females speaker’s description of married life to represent a loss of rights and diminishing choices, more obligations, and complete isolation to portray the sorrow of a married

Show More
Related

Essay On Chesapeake Women

1071 Words | 5 Pages

Since women were expected to marry at such a young age so they could have more kids, they would end up marrying multiple people as their husbands passed away. (page 6) Ironically though, Chesapeake women had the most power when their husbands died, due

Read More

Discrimination Present In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

2032 Words | 9 Pages

Curley’s wife has always been taught to sell her-self, whether it was to a road show or into the hands of a husband. Richard Hart recognizes that Curley’s wife is more like a store bought good, rather than an actual wife and writes, “Curley’s wife views herself as a commodity, and an object of sensuality” (36). Curley’s wife’s dream was to be an actress on a traveling road show, but she is too ignorant to realize that that dream is long gone and selling herself is not in the least bit attractive or becoming of a young woman. Stein-beck characterizes the men on the ranch as male chauvinists who cannot fathom a woman ever being half as important as themselves. “Curley’s wife stands as a glaringly bitter and ironic illus-tration of the immorality of narrow minds and the social conditions that produce them” (Hart 39).

Read More

Character Analysis: Janie

1614 Words | 7 Pages

Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home.” In reality, Jody was right, Janie never cared or thought to make a speech for the public, but the fact that Jody Starks was the one to decide for her, gave Janie a “cold” (pg. 61) sensation that ran through her spine, for she knew that this change may not bring the joy and passion she once presumed. As mayor, Jody allowed those around him (including his wife) become aware of the power and authority he had over any being both mentally and economically. To the town’s folks, it seemed that slavery had once again emerged from depths of their own flesh and color, “they had murmured hotly about slavery being over, but every man filled his assignment”

Read More

The Struggle In Mary Freeman's The Revolt Of Mother

676 Words | 3 Pages

Sarah then decides to take charge and confront her husband. Throughout the story, the author presents a realistic view of the domestic power and counter forces within the Penn marriage as she develops Sarah’s role. Her leadership breaks traditions and influences generations to come. To brighten her family’s future, Sarah begins taking charge, altering their marriage and attitudes of her children .

Read More

Emily Dickinson's The Declaration Of Sentiments And Resolutions

396 Words | 2 Pages

Elizabeth Stanton states in “The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions Seneca Falls Conference” that, “ [mankind] closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself ”.Traditional values had taught society that the roles of men and women were different, giving men the upper hand in jobs, and education, making women subordinate to men. For instance, Emily Dickinson’s “ anonymity was due in large part to difficulties she would have experienced in trying to overcome prevailing attitudes about women’s proper place”. Dickinson could not reach her dream because her society at the time rejected the women who did not go with the norm of society. However today Dickinson is know as one of America’s

Read More

John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

933 Words | 4 Pages

Being the woman/ wife in the story makes curley 's wife a possession, and inanimate object,and nothing more than. This novella continuously beats the theme that women are objects to be used to the man’s desire and satisfaction into the reader. The statement Steinbeck makes in this novella should be familiar with everyone, but is especially close to the female population. Curley’s wife was not the first, nor is she the last woman to experience objectification and isolation due to her anatomy.

Read More

August Wilson Fences Women

497 Words | 2 Pages

Upon reading the chapter from Junger’s book, I was drawn to the status of women in the Western and Native American cultures. The rights women had in the Native American culture are similar to the rights men have in today’s culture: the right to marry who they want, divorce, and the right to sexual limitation. In August Wilson’s Fences, Rose Maxson are faced with the challenge of forgetting and forgiving the wrongdoing of her husband, Troy. As a result of the western cultural beliefs, Troy felt like because he was the man of the house and the provider, he had the right to step out on his wife and she should deal with it. The mentality that men have the right to have sex and engage in a relationship with anyone they want and women should just deal with it has become a crutch for men.

Read More

Sonnet 9 By Mary Wroth Analysis

361 Words | 2 Pages

Love and Duress/constraint in Renaissance England Lady Mary Wroth, “Sonnet 9” explores the overpowering influence of patriarchal and religious control over people especially women personal lives and beliefs and the covet for renaissance individualism in Elizabethan England. It is a statement regarding gender inequality on women in the ideology of love and marriage and how it seeks individual right from the woman perspective which is a contemporary opposition to state and religious methods of social coercion. The speaker use the word pleasure in ”Bee you all pleas’d, your pleasure grieve not me” to explore the wealth and power that the patriarchal and religious system benefit from marriage and how its designed to benefit

Read More

Patriarchy In The Bride By Joseph Rowlandson

1075 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout history the existence of patriarchy has threatened women’s rights to equality and self-determination. Patriarchy manifested itself in the marriage practices of early modern European society and became the foundation on which couples built their love and partnership. During the sixteenth century, literature describing ideal wives and husbands was a popular genre, but works about female gender roles were more prevalent. The Bride, a poem published by Samuel Rowland’s in 1617 details the duties of a good wife and life partner.1 The duties listed in Rowland’s poem were very common for women at that time and can also be seen in Steven Ozment’s book, Magdalena and Balthasar. Ozment’s book documents the relationship of Nuremberg Merchant Balthasar Paumgartner and

Read More

Who Is Don Juan In A Therapeutic Husband

346 Words | 2 Pages

Byron is criticizing the restricted choices that women have in life. A woman with few choices must tolerate a man's "injustices" because a woman’s bond is solely in her marriage; although, most women became accustomed to their husbands betraying within the marriage’s duration. Women learned to conceal their desires while waiting for a man to purchase their hand in marriage. The woman may become unfaithful by thinking that another man will be better suited for her; however, the lover will continue to seek another woman and betray her as well. At the end stage of life, until he or she dies, the woman will be taking care of and nursing her unfaithful and apathetic husband.

Read More

Much Ado About Nothing Feminist Analysis

678 Words | 3 Pages

Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust? To make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I’ll none. Adam’s sons are my brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in my kindred.” (Shakespeare, “Much Ado” Act 2, Scene 1).

Read More

Analysis Of Lady Mary Chudleigh's Poem 'To The Ladies'

995 Words | 4 Pages

In line one when the speaker compares the wife to a servant, you think of a slave that is a property of a powerful man, and does all

Read More

Isolation In Emily Dickinson's Poetry

1881 Words | 8 Pages

The poetry of Emily Dickinson was created due to the fact that she was primarily isolated from society and she used the influence of friends and other poets. Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 10, 1830. She had one brother and one sister, along with her two parents. Emily’s brother Austin eventually became a lawyer and her father, Edward, worked for one term in congress and he was very interested in the field of politics.

Read More

Gender Roles During The 1930's

427 Words | 2 Pages

During the 1930’s there was an overwhelming sense of preconceived ideas of gender roles and what place they maintained in society, men were expected to work in order to earn a living and provide for their families, while women were more likely to stay at home to look after the children and cook and clean until the man returns from work. For working class Americans and the poor, the situation was during the Great Depression and many people were out of work and had to resort to desperate measures in order to provide for their families. Contrast to the upper class of the time who went by greatly untouched by economic downfall and thus become increasingly more obliged to seek a wife in order to have a family and live what seemed to be the idea of a middle-class woman’s American dream to marry a wealthy man.

Read More

Marriage In Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest

1653 Words | 7 Pages

For instance, Lady Bracknell’s hypocritical nature is exposed when the topic of marriage is brought up. “Lady Bracknell: But I do not approve of mercenary marriages. When I married Lord Bracknell, I had no fortune of any kind. But I never dreamed for a moment of allowing that to stand in my way (Wilde 78).”

Read More

More about The Role Of Isolation In Emily Dickinson's Poetry

Related Topics

Open Document