Loss and Marriage

From the little I knew about Emily Dickenson from high school classes, she was a woman who lived a very isolated existence and her poems often contain morbid themes. Comparing Whitman to Dickenson would be an interesting subject considering how different these two poets chose to live their lives, although they were contemporaries of each other. While Whitman chose to travel the country and observe all aspects of life and culture that surrounded him, while Dickenson was a recluse experiencing much less of the world than United States. It seems that the themes that each chose to write in their poems contrast greatly, Whitman celebrates the beauty in everything he encounters, while Dickenson focuses on the morbid, depressing events in life.

I was surprised by the theme of loss and escape in several of the poems. I really enjoyed the poem, “I Had a Guinea Golden” even though it was a little depressing. The poem brought back the themes featured in transcendental works about nature and freedom. I cannot pinpoint why I enjoyed it but I did.

What I found very interesting was her poem, “The Wife”, I’m not sure if her intention was to provide a commentary on the roles of women and the institution of marriage, but it seemed that way. She seems very critical of the role a wife is supposed to take on once she is married. She notes that a wife is supposed to give up her “playthings”, meaning that a woman is expected to give up her own work, hopes, and desires, to take “honorable work” of being a wife and mother. Emily Dickenson never married, I’m not sure if this was her reason or the fact the she was somewhat of a hermit prevented her from marrying. I’m sure Emily Dickenson wouldn’t be the prolific poet that she is today had she taken on the more conventional route of mother and wife.