Reflection: Dickinson's Writing Style

Emily Dickinson along with Walt Whitman, was considered a "Tweener" because she, Emily Dickinson, along with Walt Whitman, kind of floated back and forth across the lines of being a Realism writer or a Modernism style of writer.  Some may have their own opinions, even a new style of writing to claim as theiir own, but it can be infered that Dickinson and or Whitman cannot be tied down to just one certain Literary writing style.  Dickinson was a writer that did not believe in the grace of other people's opinions.  This may be why she stayed inside her house, holed up for years.  Dickinson was a very popular writer, simply because her works were so unique and there was only one other person in the smae time period as her that's writings were alike to hers. Dickinson contributed to her works one of her most valuable assets; her emotions.  Her poems were very emotional and in depth with deatil.  The reader could easily connect with what she was trying to convey and admit to the reader.  This unclassifies her as a writer of the Realism writing style because of the great deatil that she conveyed within her writings.  In her poem, "Hope is the Thing With Feathers" we see an example of how much detail she put into her writings and poems.

"I've heard it in the chillest land—And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me"(Dickinson).

She brings an emotional attachment to her writing.  In the verse above, the reader could be easily drawn into the visual images she sets out for the reader and then get sucked into the emotional side of the story.  This is what makes her story not one of realism because there is too much detail, and it expresses a great amount of emotion.

The other writing era that Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were in between was the Modernism writing style.  This style of writing dealt a lot with things that were new and represented a revolution.  People who wrote within the Modernist period were consistently trying to not be alike any other writer of their time.  They wanted to be their own style of writing so people could always verify what they were reading and who actually wrote it with out going through a huge background of hundreds of authors defining who's style was being presented in the work in front of them. Emily Dickinson did not do new things.  She was not Revolutionary. She was normal, to an extent.  

"And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—"(Dickinson).

In the verse above, the way that Emily Dickinson uses a force of nature like a storm to represent an evil, and the way she uses the feeling of warmth to signify home, and acceptance, draws the reader into a feeling of warmth and overcoming a struggle.  This emotional attachment makes this story not an example of Realism.

McChesney, Sandra. "A View from the Window: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson." In Harold Bloom, ed. Emily Dickinson, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.

Dickinson, Emily. "Hope Is the Thing with Feathers." Emily Dickinson. Brooklyn Academics. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/hope.html>.