What binds you in emily dickinson poems?
Most of the ‘big’ later nineteenth century poets (Tennyson, Longfellow, J R Lowell, Whittier) were so determined to ‘reach the people’ that they avoided complicated, or unpopular, topics in their poetry; and regularly presented their ideas as simply as they could (ideas are often best when shown in their full complexity). For example: Longfellow wrote poems about America’s heroic past (Hiawatha, and Giles Corey), but avoided treating difficult subjects such as slavery or anti-Black prejudice. Dickinson wrote mainly for herself; so she was able to use language which was natural – even slangy – on occasion (‘After great pain’ has the hesitation and indirection of plain speech; it is not bookish the way schoolroom poetry was); she was also able to deal directly in uncomfortable truths (‘Going to Heaven’ is not just atheistic, it treats atheism as natural: Whittier would never have dared such a poem). So I value Dickinson for her daring and her plainness. But she was able to deal in these
