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Emily Dickinson was a New England poet/hermit with a fascination with death and immortality. She wrote over 1000 poems in her lifetime, most of them dark and soul-searching. Why were her poems so dark?

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English Language

Transcript

00:04

Emily Dickinson a la Shmoop: The Belle of Amherst Strikes Again.

00:11

Emily Dickinson was an eccentric New England spinster who rarely left her house.

00:15

Amazing what you can get done when you don't go anywhere or do anything.

00:15

Emily managed to crank out over 1,700 poems in her relatively short lifetime.

00:21

These weren't some sappy, sing-song poems about some guy that got away. . .

00:24

. . .these were soul-searching ditties about stuff like death and immortality.

00:29

So, why was this prim and proper recluse. . .

00:32

. . .so obsessed with the Grim Reaper? It might have had something to do with how

00:36

often someone she cared about bit the dust.

00:39

She lost two close friends. . .

00:41

. . .and a cousin before she turned 21. . .

00:43

. . .and many more people who were very close to her...

00:47

Surrounded by so much death, it's no wonder why it was her main source of inspiration.

00:53

Or maybe it was more about shaking things up.

00:57

Since Emily was living in the 19th Century in stuffy New England...

01:00

...maybe she wanted to rattle some cages. . .

01:02

. . . and show people that women weren't just fragile creatures. . .

01:05

. . .who could only write about hearts and flowers.

01:08

Her poems sure didn't look like anyone else's. . .

01:10

. . .with all that random capitalization and funky punctuation. . .

01:13

. . .so maybe her subject matter. . .

01:15

. . .was just another way to keep people on their toes.

01:19

Or maybe she was simply depressed. Being a hermit who shied away from social

01:23

situations. . .

01:24

. . .we said hermit. . .

01:26

. . .could be a major reason Emily caved in to her dark thoughts.

01:30

And if you add in the fact that she was taking care of her nasty, sick mother. . .

01:34

. . .well, you do the math.

01:39

So why was death so prominent in Emily Dickenson's work?

01:43

Was it a response to all the deaths in her life....

01:46

Or a desire to shock people...

01:48

Or could it have been a case of severe depression? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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