Emily Dickinson is a renowned American poet of the 19th century Born on December 10, 1830, she is widely considered to be one of the foremost innovators of American poetry, and one of the most important writers in American literature. Throughout her lifetime, she wrote nearly 1800 poems, though only seven were published during her lifetime. Her success in the literary world was largely unrecognized until after her death in 1886.
Dickinson's writing was marked by highly formal structures, her use of vivid imagery, and her intellectual musings on death, immortality, and the mysteries of life. Her work has inspired numerous volumes of biographies, critical essays, and literary studies. As such, there are a wide variety of interesting topics related to Emily Dickinson's life and work that make for excellent essay topics.
1. An exploration of Emily Dickinson's life, focusing on how her upbringing and spirituality influenced her writing.
2. An examination of the themes present in Emily Dickinson's poetry, such as death, immortality, and the divine.
3. A study of Emily Dickinson's fiction, including works such as The Single Hound and The Bee.
4. An analysis of Emily Dickinson's influence on American poetry and her role in the development of the form.
5. A comparison of Emily Dickinson's writing to other 19th century poets, such as Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, and William Wordsworth.
6. An exploration of the critical reception of Emily Dickinson's work from both contemporary and modern audiences.
7. An examination of Emily Dickinson's use of language and imagery in her poetry.
8. A look at Emily Dickinson's place in the American literary canon, and her impact on later generations of writers.
9. An analysis of Emily Dickinson's poetry in relation to other Romantic period poets and how her work stands out as an American original.
10. A comparison of Emily Dickinson's writing style to that of other female writers of the 19th century and their shared concerns.