Writing style of Emily Dickinson

 

Emily Dickinson (1830- 1886) was a well-known American poet who invented her own unique writing style. Thus she is an influential figure in modern American poetry. All of her poems were stylistically innovative. Her poems are characterized by slant rhymes (half rhyme/ not a perfect rhyme like we and thee), short lines, lack of title, unconventional capitalization and punctuation, individualism and extreme use of symbolism. Reflection on death is a prevalent theme in her writing. She spent much of her life in solitude, with the vast majority of her work as a poet being discovered only after her death and published posthumously.

 

A style of her own

Emily Dickinson’s writing style is remarkably unique. Brevity is her soul of wit. She used extensive dashes, dots, and unconventional capitalization, in addition to vivid imagery and unconventional vocabulary. Her poems are highly subjective, generally short lyrical poems. She is noted for her gifted ability to describe the abstract concept with concrete images. She is a typical modern writer because experimentation is the hallmark of her poetry. She radically experimented with the theme as well as the form of the poem. The poems such as Because I Could Not Stop for Death, A Light Exists in Spring, I felt a funeral in my brain, there is a certain slant of light, Hope is the Thing with Feathers and Before You Thought of Spring substantially exhibit her craftsmanship as a modern poet.