Emily Dickinson – Life and Works
Four years later after her death, Emily Dickinson has been relevant and popular when her volume of poetry first came out finally under her own name. Her name can still be heard even up to this day because a legend American poet. Moreover, she’s been sung by folk-rock legend Natalie Merchant and her character has been played by Sex and the City’s main cast, Cynthia Nixon. Also, she’s lent her verse to Costco’s worth of Etsy products for quirky bookworms, from cookie cutters to poetry tights.
Dickinson’s infamous poem begins with an oddly punctuated first line.
“Why do I love” You, Sir?
Because—
The Wind does not require the Grass
To answer—Wherefore when He pass
She cannot keep Her place.
- ‘Why do I love” you, Sir by Emily Dickinson
“Why do I love” You, Sir? is one of the most popular poems by Dickinson. This breathtaking poem talks about love as an unexplainable thing. It expresses love and devotion. According to some studies and analyses, she did not work with an editor for the purpose of publishing. Her poems were edited after her death by Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd.
Only 10 out of 1,775 poems have been published and Dickinson did not provide titles to all of her poems which makes each poem’s first line becomes the title. Just like this poem the first line becomes the title:
I’m nobody! Who are you? (1861)
By Emily Dickinson
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
Most of her works are definitely inspiring. Here are some other works of Emily Dickinson you might want to read to be inspired and motivated:
- Success is counted sweetest (1859)
- “Hope” is the thing with feathers (1861)
- I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (1861)
- There’s a certain Slant of light (1861)
- Wild Nights – Wild Nights! (1861)
- This is my letter to the World (1862)
- I dwell in Possibility (1862)
- I heard a Fly buzz– when I died (1862)
- It was not Death, for I stood up (1862)
- Before I got my eye put out (1862)
- After great pain, a formal feeling comes (1862)
“Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.”
Emily Dickinson left us with her remarkable works. She is a legend; her works will be treasured for a lifetime because these poems keep on inspiring people even up to this day. Her works will remain as history’s masterpieces for all of it were written by the brilliant imagination of the most original poet, Emily Dickinson.
