User:ImitationV/sandbox

Biography
The world knows her by the name Dickinson. She is famous for her poetry. Her full name is Emily Elizabeth Dickinson. She was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts in a prominent family. She used to go to the Amherst Academy when she was little. Then she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. She started writing poetry from an early age. She lived her life in isolation. She never married. When her father died from a stroke, she did not attend his funeral. After her death on May 15, 1886 her younger sister Lavinia discovered her poems. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd, though both heavily edited the content. An article from the New York Times revealed that some of Dickinson’s poems were about her sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson who was also a poet. Though we didn’t get to read the original writings of Emily’s poem, we still like the poems as they are.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson

Background Information
These are some of my favorite poems by Emily Dickinson. In these poems Dickinson tells about the feelings that we feel when we lose someone. How death is related to our life. Even after losing someone, we carry a part of them. We carry their memories. She also tells us how a person’s life experience can change him completely. These little details are what I liked about Dickinson’s poetry.

Poems by Emily Dickinson
The Bustle in the House

The bustle in a house

The morning after death

Is solemnest of industries

Enacted upon earth, —

The sweeping up the heart,

And putting love away

We shall not want to use again

Until eternity.

If I can Stop One Heart from Breaking

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

Each that we lose takes part of us

Each that we lose takes part of us

A crescent still abides,

Which like the moon, some turbid night,

Is summoned by the tides.

Analysis of these poems:
The first poem “Bustle in the House” is about the brief, busy, suspended period of time between the death of a loved one and the private grief that follows. Dickinson describes this feeling, this grief so perfectly in this poem that it feels like I am the one grieving and I am the one who is experiencing this emotional collapse.

The second poem, “If I can Stop One Heart from Breaking,” is about selfless love where the speaker expresses how helping others matter. For example, the speaker wants to help a fainting Robin back into the nest. This kind of selfless love and kindness can easily change anyone’s mind. The message of this poem is how kindness can help another human and save their life.

“Each that we lose takes part of us” tells us how we carry a portion of our loved one’s when they die. Their death maybe physical but a small portion(crescent) remains inside all of us. She also describes the grief as the moon on a turbid night. She uses these analogies so nicely that it describes the feeling very deeply.

These little details inspired me to write a poem about death and the pain of losing someone.

Poem written by me
Pain of Losing Her

Why do I feel pain?

Is it because death took Elaine?

Dying is a wild night –

And a new road

You’ll have to die –

Just like a toad.

Now that I’ve lost her

I am all alone,

You can do nothing –

But to write her name in a goldstone.

Why do we have one life?

Why doesn’t it repeat?

That it will never come again –

Is what makes life so sweet.

Analysis of my poem
In the first stanza the speaker talks with another person about the feeling about losing someone. The speaker loves a girl named Elaine. She died and because of this he is feeling lost and pain. The other speaker is comforting him by telling him that everyone has to die just like all the animals(toad) on earth.

In the second stanza the speaker is feeling lonely and the other speaker is telling him that bringing her back is not possible. The only thing he can do is to write her name in a goldstone and remember her and carry her memories.

The last stanza talks about the meaning of life. The speaker wants to meet his lover if not in this life then in another. That’s why he says “Why do we have one life? Why doesn’t it repeat?” The other speaker tells him that because of us having only one life, our life is beautiful and that’s why we care for each other. That’s what makes life precious.

La Chambre à Arles (Bedroom in Arles), by Vincent van Gogh

Critical Thinking Questions
After reading these poems think about these questions:

* How does the speaker feel after losing his loved one?

* What is the message of the poem?

* How does it make you feel?

* What is your favorite thing about this poem?

* How is this relevant to your life?

Media Adaptations of Dickinson’s Life
·        ''Dickinson (2019). TV series. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8518136/''

o   Trailer for Season 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHmTM273Haw

·        A Quiet Passion (2016): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2392830/?ref_=wl_li_tt

·        Wild Nights with Emily (2018): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5176580/?ref_=wl_li_tt

Dickinson TV Series Review
Dickinson is a comedy-drama series based on the real-life events of the famous poet Emily Dickinson. This series has 10 episodes in season 1. The series tells the story of Emily’s life in a strict household and how her father Edward Dickinson, treats her. Hailee Steinfeld is cast as Emily Dickinson and Ella Hunt as Sue Gilbert. The series also has other actors: Adrian Enscoe, Anna Baryshnikov, Toby Huss, and many more. I recommend this show because it can teach us many things about Emily Dickinson, why she was inspired to write poems and how she passed her life in isolation. Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson recites some of the poems written by Dickinson herself which are relevant to the scenes and it gives a nice feeling hearing someone reciting Dickinson’s poems. This show is kind of fun because in some scenes Emily is seen to talk to a Bee, there’s another scene where Emily meets Death (Wiz Khalifa). This show also shows the relationship between her and Sue Gilbert. I liked the show because of the cast and because I prefer a visual story rather than read a whole biography.