Major Subjects and Themes

Death. Death is prevalent throughout Dickinson’s poetry. It is sometimes thematic, as in “I died for Beauty—but was scarce” (#448/449). Other times death becomes a persona, as it does in “Because I could not stop for Death—” (#479/712), but always the role death plays in Dickinson’s work is as a defining force in life. For Dickinson, death was the doorway to “immortality,” and through death we come to understand life, God, and the soul.

It is important to note that Dickinson does not simplify death or reduce it to a cliché. She remains aware of the complexity of death as a concept and as an event, as she remains aware of the complexity of many other issues (e.g. God, love, life).

Religion. As you learned from her biography, Dickinson was raised in a very religious household. Her struggle with religion—particularly her struggle to understand the concept of God—is apparent in many of her poems.

Pain and Dread. Dickinson has been called the poet of dread. In her poetry, so many references to pain and dread abound that it is easy to conclude that she was bitterly unhappy; however this is an oversimplification. Dickinson was a bright, perceptive poet. She realized that pain is part of life and much of the pain we find echoed in her poetry can be better explained as an attempt to grasp the complexity of life, to achieve some understanding of the role pain and suffering played in the framework of the world.