What themes are consistent with the poems of Emily Dickinson?

Death is one of the foremost themes in Dickinson's poetry. No two poems have exactly the same understanding of death, however. Death is sometimes gentle, sometimes menacing, sometimes simply inevitable. In “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –,” Dickinson investigates the physical process of dying. read more

Emily Dickinson’s Collected Poems Questions and Answers. The Question and Answer section for Emily Dickinson’s Collected Poems is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. read more

Like most writers, Emily Dickinson wrote about what she knew and about what intrigued her. A keen observer, she used images from nature, religion, law, music, commerce, medicine, fashion, and domestic activities to probe universal themes: the wonders of nature, the identity of the self, death and immortality, and love. read more

In her work, Dickinson asserts the importance of the self, a theme closely related to Dickinson’s censure of God. As Dickinson understood it, the mere act of speaking or writing is an affirmation of the will, and the call of the poet, in particular, is the call to explore and express the self to others. read more