Editing Emily Dickinson (section)

=== Major themes ===
Dickinson left no formal statement of her aesthetic intentions and, because of the variety of her themes, her work does not fit conveniently into any genre. She has been regarded, alongside [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]] (whose poems Dickinson admired), as a [[Transcendentalism|Transcendentalist]].<ref>Bloom (1998), 18.</ref> However, Farr disagrees with this analysis, saying that Dickinson's "relentlessly measuring mind&nbsp;... deflates the airy elevation of the Transcendental".<ref>Farr (1996), 13.</ref> Apart from the major themes discussed below, Dickinson's poetry frequently uses humor, puns, [[irony]] and [[satire]].<ref>Wolff (1986), 171.</ref>

'''Flowers and gardens''': Farr notes that Dickinson's "poems and letters almost wholly concern flowers" and that allusions to gardens often refer to an "imaginative realm&nbsp;... wherein flowers [are] often emblems for actions and emotions".<ref name="Farr1to7">Farr (2005), 1–7.</ref> She associates some flowers, like [[gentian]]s and [[anemone]]s, with youth and humility; others with prudence and insight.<ref name="Farr1to7" /> Her poems were often sent to friends with accompanying letters and [[nosegay]]s.<ref name="Farr1to7" /> Farr notes that one of Dickinson's earlier poems, written about 1859, appears to "conflate her poetry itself with the posies": "My nosegays are for Captives&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ Dim&nbsp;– long expectant eyes&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ Fingers denied the plucking,&nbsp;/ Patient till Paradise&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ To such, if they sh'd whisper&nbsp;/ Of morning and the moor&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ They bear no other errand,&nbsp;/ And I, no other prayer".<ref name="Farr1to7" />

'''The Master poems''': Dickinson left a large number of poems addressed to "Signor", "Sir" and "Master", who is characterized as Dickinson's "lover for all eternity".<ref name="Farr7">Farr (1996), 7–8.</ref> These confessional poems are often "searing in their self-inquiry" and "harrowing to the reader" and typically take their metaphors from texts and paintings of Dickinson's day.<ref name="Farr7" /> The Dickinson family themselves believed these poems were addressed to actual individuals; scholars frequently reject this view. Farr, for example, contends that the Master is an unattainable composite figure, "human, with specific characteristics, but godlike" and speculates that Master may be a "kind of Christian muse".<ref name="Farr7" />

'''Morbidity''': Dickinson's poems reflect her "early and lifelong fascination" with illness, dying and death.<ref name="Pollak62">Pollak (1996), 62–65.</ref> Perhaps surprisingly for a New England spinster, her poems allude to death by many methods: "crucifixion, drowning, hanging, suffocation, freezing, premature burial, shooting, stabbing and guillotinage".<ref name="Pollak62" /> She reserved her sharpest insights into the "death blow aimed by God" and the "funeral in the brain", often reinforced by images of thirst and starvation. Dickinson scholar {{Wikidata fallback link|Q112511189}}<!---[[Vivian Pollak]]--> considers these references an autobiographical reflection of Dickinson's "thirsting-starving persona", an outward expression of her needy self-image as small, thin and frail.<ref name="Pollak62" /> Dickinson's most psychologically complex poems explore the theme that the loss of hunger for life causes the death of self and place this at "the interface of murder and suicide".<ref name="Pollak62" /> Death and morbidity in Dickinson's poetry is also heavily connected to winter themes. Critic Edwin Folsom analyzes how "winter for Dickinson is the season that forces reality, that strips all hope of transcendence. It is a season of death and a metaphor for death".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Folsom|first=Edwin|date=1975|title="The Souls That Snow": Winter in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson.|journal=American Literature|volume=47|issue=3|pages=361–376|doi=10.2307/2925338|jstor=2925338}}</ref>

'''Gospel poems''': Throughout her life, Dickinson wrote poems reflecting a preoccupation with the teachings of Jesus Christ and, indeed, many are addressed to him.<ref name="Oberhaus105">Oberhaus (1996), 105–119</ref> She stresses the Gospels' contemporary pertinence and recreates them, often with "wit and American colloquial language".<ref name="Oberhaus105" /> Scholar Dorothy Oberhaus finds that the "salient feature uniting Christian poets&nbsp;... is their reverential attention to the life of Jesus Christ" and contends that Dickinson's deep structures place her in the "poetic tradition of Christian devotion" alongside [[Gerard Manley Hopkins|Hopkins]], [[T. S. Eliot|Eliot]] and [[W. H. Auden|Auden]].<ref name="Oberhaus105" /> In a Nativity poem, Dickinson combines lightness and wit to revisit an ancient theme: "The Savior must have been&nbsp;/ A docile Gentleman&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ To come so far so cold a Day&nbsp;/ For little Fellowmen&nbsp;/ The Road to Bethlehem&nbsp;/ Since He and I were Boys&nbsp;/ Was leveled, but for that twould be&nbsp;/ A rugged billion Miles&nbsp;–".<ref name="Oberhaus105" />

'''The Undiscovered Continent''': Academic {{Wikidata fallback link|Q112464389}}<!---[[Suzanne Juhasz]]--> considers that Dickinson saw the mind and spirit as tangible visitable places and that for much of her life she lived within them.<ref name="Juhasz132">Juhasz (1996), 130–140.</ref> Often, this intensely private place is referred to as the "undiscovered continent" and the "landscape of the spirit" and embellished with nature imagery. At other times, the imagery is darker and forbidding—castles or prisons, complete with corridors and rooms—to create a dwelling place of "oneself" where one resides with one's other selves.<ref name="Juhasz132" /> An example that brings together many of these ideas is: "Me from Myself&nbsp;– to banish&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ Had I Art&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ Impregnable my Fortress&nbsp;/ Unto All Heart&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ But since myself—assault Me&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ How have I peace&nbsp;/ Except by subjugating&nbsp;/ Consciousness.&nbsp;/ And since We're mutual Monarch&nbsp;/ How this be&nbsp;/ Except by Abdication&nbsp;–&nbsp;/ Me&nbsp;– of Me?".<ref name="Juhasz132" />