Dickinson’s Slant Poetics in Her Civil War Poems

Abstract

Emily Dickinson’s poems during the Civil War period have been underestimated because it is believed that her poetry does not reflect the political situation of the period. Dickinson writes in one of her letters, “War feels to me an oblique place.” Contrary to the supposed claim that she had little interest in the war, the national conflict served as catalyst for the poet’s creative energy. Compared with other contemporary poets, Dickinson shows different attitude toward the Civil War. Her attitude toward the war deeply affects the contents of her poems and how the poems are represented in relation to the historical and political events. The Civil War years are the backdrop for her poetry writing. The prolific output of her poetry indicates that Dickinson was deeply affected and inspired by the Civil War. Characterizing her poetics as slant, this essay explores how she represents the contemporary political situation in her poetics and examines why she is reluctant to explicitly express her ideas about the war in her poems.