Eco-Feminism in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry

Abstract

Through the study of Emily Dickinson’s life and her works as well as the comments on her, the thesis is intended to find out that how Eco-feminism influences her works and life deeply, and the perspective of Eco-feminism in her poetry. As one of the most prominent poetesses in the nineteenth century, Emily Dickinson made a great impact on American literature, and she was praised as “the most topping poetess in the west since Sapphic”. She was outstanding among the contemporary poets for her unique writing style, creating images and profound ideology. This thesis begins with the fundamental introduction of Emily Dickinson and the Eco-feminist criticism. Based on the former researches on Dickinson and her poetry, this paper further discusses Dickinson’s Eco-feminism, mainly exploring Dickinson’s rebellion and challenge on the religious belief, literary trends and social tradition in the nineteenth century. After that, this thesis analyzes the themes and styles of Dickinson’s poetry from Eco-feminism. Through the Eco-feminist reading of the themes and styles of Dickinson’s poetry, Dickinson research not only means to make a detailed description and analysis of her life and poetry, but also means to provide new interpretive methods and appreciating perspectives. In the first chapter of this essay, I just explain the Eco-feminism idea in a whole way. The reflection of Eco-feminism to Dickinson’s life and her poems writing are discussed in the second and third chapter. In the last chapter, I mainly analyze the Eco-feminist style in Dickinson’s poems.