Abstract

Emily Dickinson is one of the greatest poets in American literature. Among her nearly 1800 poems, 500 are about nature. Nature becomes her source of writing as well as purifying her soul. Dickinson lived in an isolated world constructed by her, which was filled with ambivalence, contradiction, and paradox. Likewise, in her nature poems, the most distinguished feature is contradiction.

This thesis tries to analyze Dickinson’s contradiction in her nature poems. Dickinson’s nature was wide, including animals, plants, the sunrise and sunset, and seasons. However her feelings about nature were paradoxical. On the one hand, she loved nature and showed high respect to it. One the other hand, she was scared of nature for its coldness and mercilessness.

Keywords: nature; contradiction; seclusion; Puritanism; Transcendentalism

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

    1.1 Emily Dickinson and Her Poetic Achievements-1

    1.2 Literature Review-1

    1.3 Theme and Organization-3

    1.4 Contradiction: Universality and Particularity-5

2. Poems to Living Creatures-6

    2.1 Love for Nature-6

    2.2 Despair of Nature-7

3. Poems to Natural Scenes-9

    3.1 Natural Harmony-9

    3.2 Natural Disharmony-10

4. Poems to Seasons-12

    4.1 Nature is Vigorous-12

    4.2 Nature is Lifeless -13

5. Particularity of Dickinson’ s Contradiction-15

    5.1 Living in Seclusion-15

    5.2 Rooted in Puritanism-17

    5.3 Redefining Transcendental View of Nature-18

6. Conclusion-20

Notes-21

References-22