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1、OnEmilyDickinson’sPoemsofDeath06DengHeyan1.0BackgroundInformation1.1CulturalBackgroundEmilyDickinson,alsoknowasEmilyElizabethDickinson,theAmericanbest-knowfemalepoet,wasoneofthegreatestauthorinAmericanliterature.ShebornonDecember10,1830intoCalvinistfamilyofAmherst,Mas
2、sachusettsandonmay15,1886.EmilyDickinsontookherlastbreathattheageof56.In19thcentury,TranscendentalismaroseinAmerican.ItwasarebellionagainstthesolemnCalvinism.ManwascapableofapproachingtheSupremeBeingthroughindividualeffortsofself-reliance.TheTranscendentalistsbelieved
3、thatallbeingsintheworldweresubordinatetoonebeing,whichtheytermedas“OverSoul”.Theideaof“OverSoul”wasthecoreoftheTranscendentalism.DickinsonreadEmersonappreciatively,whobecameapervasiveand,inasense,formativeinfluenceoverher.AsGeorgeF.Whichernotes,"Hersolefunctionwastote
4、sttheTranscendentalistethicinitsapplicationtotheinnerlife"（DavidMarr，1988）.25ConradAlkencalledDickinson“themostperfectflowerofNewEnglandTranscendentalism.”（Hu,J,2001）Emerson’sTranscendentalismhadgreatinfluenceuponDickinson’ssignificanceofdeathpoems,whichmaybeclassifie
5、dintothefollowingaspect:herpursuitofimmortalityandthesoulandthegradualskepticismtowardsGod.EmilyDickinsonisnotintotalagreementwithEmerson'stranscendentalistviews.IbelieveherpoemslacktheebullienceofEmerson'swritings.However,likeEmerson,herpoemsexhibitthesignificanceofd
6、isqualifyingsociety's"dosanddon'ts"(i.e.traditionalrules)and,instead,confirmingtheimportanceofanindividual'ssoulandmorals.OnecanseethatDickinsonhaslivedbytheseviewsnotonlyinherpoems,butalsoinherlife.Forexample,shewasaneducatedwoman.Assuch,sherefusedtobeinferiorinamale
7、-dominatedsociety.LikeEmerson,shebelievedthat"Whosowouldbeamanmustbeanonconformist."Forinstance,inherpoem,"MuchMadnessisdivinestSense--,"sheexplainshowtheruleofthemajoritycanbecomeaformoftyrannyinherimageof"handledwithachain."Onecanseehowtruethisimagewasinrecenthistor
8、y.WhentheGrandOldPartywantedBillClintonoutofoffice,theyusedtheirmajorityruletorepresstheminority'srights,inturn,becomingtyra
