“And No Man Visit Me:” Analyzing Emily Dickinson’s Works from a Feminist Perspective Taylor Elizabeth Daly College

As one of the most widely read female poets to this day, Emily Dickinson has been analyzed for generations. Her poems touch on profound human issues such as death, religion, and, perhaps most subtly, gender. While Dickinson’s predominantly homebound and domestic lifestyle and may initially suggest otherwise, her works, in both their content and their very existence, reveal her as an early feminist.

The fact that Dickinson even attempted to write poetry, let alone shared it with her friends and family, manifests her more progressive views on female ingenuity and empowerment. During Dickinson’s lifetime (1830-1886), the creative sphere was dominated by men, and would continue to be until the mid-to-late 1900s. After all, women did not even have the right to vote until 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified. Women like Anne Bradstreet had previously gained attention for poetic endeavors, but Bradstreet's works were vastly different from Dickinson’s--they were extremely pious and focused on relatively tame and superficial subject matter, such as a predestined house fire or Bradstreet's everlasting love for her husband. In contrast, Dickinson, who refused to attend church, penned several poems that revealed her disillusionment...