Characterizing Emily Dickinson's distinctive poetic style

How Emily Dickinson poetically deployed the em dash

Dickinson had many purposes for dashes in her poems: Sometimes they serve rhythm, sometimes they reflect the naturally fragmented way we tend to speak, and sometimes they are a simple artistic choice. This quick explainer breaks down how dashes work grammatically and how they operate in some of Dickinson's verses.

Read the poetry of Emily Dickinson

Dickinson wrote about 1,800 poems during her life, though the bulk of them weren't published until after her death in 1886. This collection from the Academy of American Poets brings together many of her most important (but untitled) works, which you can search by their first lines.

Listen to 3 scholars discuss the work of Emily Dickinson

Fiona Green, Linda Freedman, and Paraic Finnerty—three British academics who study Dickinson—discuss the poet's life, distinctive writing style, and impact on the generations who followed, illustrating that part of Dickinson's appeal lies in her open-ended verse, which invites readers' many interpretations.

Why Emily Dickinson's poetry remains popular in the 21st century

Dickinson remains widely read and is often considered one of American literature's greatest poets. This short documentary from PBS uses a 2017 museum exhibition on the writer to explore her long-lasting impact, with input from Barbara Howe, a contemporary poet, and Marta Werner, a Dickinson scholar.

During her lifetime, Emily Dickinson was better known as a gardener than a poet.

A comprehensive biography of Emily Dickinson, the influential American poet

This deep dive into Dickinson's biography includes a fascinating anecdote about her time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary—where she was distinguished from the "established Christians" and deemed "without hope"—as well as the significance of her correspondence with close friend Susan Gilbert, one of her primary readers and eventual sister-in-law.

The significance of Emily Dickinson's many personal letters

The first editors of Dickinson's posthumous collection of poetry heavily amended her work, making her private letters and drafts more valuable for what many perceive to be her more raw, unadulterated voice. Cristanne Miller, the editor of "The Letters of Emily Dickinson," discusses their importance and why so many of them were destroyed after Dickinson's death.

Emily Dickinson was a prolific baker

Dickinson scholars have collected her recipes for gingerbread, doughnuts, and more, noting that she often wrote poems on the backs of them. The Emily Dickinson Museum says that the kitchen "was a space of creative ferment for her, and that the writing of poetry mixed in her life with the making of delicate treats."

Emily Dickinson's poems were heavily altered after her death, with editors removing many of the peculiar aspects that readers now identify with her work.

Breaking down how Dickinson viewed letters as an extension of her poetry

The poet's many correspondences were dashed with playful arrangements of text, offering her pen pals surprises once they opened their envelopes. Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith explain how Dickinson even creatively used the 19th-century security technique of letterlocking in poetic ways.

Browse Emily Dickinson's original handwritten poems

Harvard's Emily Dickinson Archive offers free access to the poet's papers from over a dozen libraries, allowing you to see the original drafts of some of her most famous works, sometimes scribbled on envelopes and scraps of paper. (And, even better, you can search the database by typing in your favorite lines!)

Why one Emily Dickinson biographer believed she had epilepsy

Lyndall Gordon's "Lives Like Loaded Guns" points to a "handicap" referenced in several Dickinson poems. According to Gordon, the condition was so stigmatized during Dickinson's life that it made her reclusive. In this NPR interview, Gordon explains why she believes the theory is the best explanation for Dickinson's notorious isolation.

Browse Emily Dickinson's collection of plant life

The poet began collecting plant life as a teen and assembling a herbarium, a collection of dried and pressed plants. The original book is housed in Harvard's rare book collection, but you can view digital scans of every page through the university's digital library.

After her death, Emily Dickinson's editors marketed her as a children's poet, believing it would be the best way to have her work published.

How Dickinson's reputation changed in the 20th century

In 1955, Thomas Johnson edited the first complete edition of Dickinson's poetry, using the original handwritten manuscripts as his guide. Unlike previous editors, Johnson allowed Dickinson's unique choices to remain. The collection established her as a singular, innovative voice, a reputation that only continued growing through the decades.

Debunking the myth of Dickinson's antisocial seclusion

It's true that the poet largely kept to herself in her late-30s, spending nearly all her time at her father's house, and when she did venture out into the world, she'd wear white, facts that led American history to label her a strange, antisocial recluse. But, as this essay shows, that image is not entirely true, evident in the many relationships she maintained through her letters.

How Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman grappled with the American Civil War

Whitman, whose brother was injured while fighting for the Union, was often overt in his pro-Union poems. Dickinson, whose brother paid to have someone enlist under his name, was more subtle, though equally as affected, as this comparative analysis makes clear.

A profile of Dickinson's ambiguous but close relationship with Susan Gilbert

Gilbert met Dickinson in 1850, and the two women quickly became very close, with Dickinson often pining for Gilbert in letters. In this essay, critic Maria Popova calls the relationship "beautiful, heartbreaking, unclassifiable," and details how it came to inspire Dickinson's writing, even after Gilbert married Dickinson's brother.

'The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.'

- Poet Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

Understanding the relationship between Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson

One of Dickinson's most significant pen pals was Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a minister, politician, and writer, who became a trusted creative adviser and, after her death, one of the editors of her first published volumes. Their relationship began after Dickinson sent him a letter asking, "Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?"

'Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tunes without the words—and never stops at all.'

- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

How Taylor Swift is related to poet Emily Dickinson

In 2024, genealogy site Ancestry.com claimed that the pop star and the poet were descended from a 17th-century English immigrant, Swift's ninth great-grandfather and Dickinson's sixth great-grandfather. That would make Swift and Dickinson sixth cousins, three times removed.

‘Blank verse’ is an unrhymed poetic form with a consistent meter common in epics

Shakespeare’s plays are primarily written in blank verse, a consistent meter without any rhyme scheme. The mode is common in epic poems like Homer’s Iliad or John Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” though the specific meters vary.

A linguist argues Jane Austen's language is what defines her fiction

While many readers love Austen's novels for their characters and their romantic plots, Chi Luu argues that many people (including literary luminaries like Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, and Ralph Waldo Emerson) underestimate how her adept wordplay, sense of irony, and memorable turns of phrase are what have made readers fall in love with her fiction for centuries.

The evolution of the em dash, a now-controversial piece of punctuation

The curious form of punctuation was originally used to replicate humans' naturally broken—and sometimes scattered—way of speaking, with Shakespeare often using it in his plays and Emily Dickinson deploying it for numerous effects. But as large language models like ChatGPT began using the em dash, real humans began viewing it as a tell of non-human writing. This podcast episode dives into the strange turn of events.

What is free verse?

Free verse is a style of poetry that does not conform to any set meter or rhyme scheme. In essence, it’s poetry whose form has been created by the poet.

Dylan's political songs were often abstract

Dylan's protest songs weren't always explicit; sometimes, his dense lyrics only suggested political themes. "Hard Rain," for example, features Biblical allusions, charged images, and what would become generational axioms. It's a perfect encapsulation of what his early records could offer and a thrilling preview for what would come later.

Whitman revolutionized American poetry

Whitman was a groundbreaking force in American literature, legitimizing the national idiom, capturing the spirit of the evolving country, and inspiring younger generations of writers for centuries to follow.

Taylor Swift's one-note melody increases her relatability

Despite music’s variety, a few musical elements have been scientifically proven to make a song compelling to listeners. Swift's one-note melody helps her songs mimic the cadence of speech, assisting in her storytelling and accessible image.

Read the Beats' poetry

The Beats were alike in their willingness to experiment and transgress, though the movement’s writers were distinct artists with varying styles. This collection showcases the breadth of the Beat Generation’s work, with authorized texts from Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane di Prima, Richard Brautigan and others.

Hughes' poems brought blues and jazz to poetry

Poets like Walt Whitman and Claude McKay inspired Hughes, but he was also enamored with blues and jazz music. The styles informed the way he structured his verses, with Hughes employing repetition and rhythm in ways similar to the standard 12-bar blues form and playing with meter in a way that recalled the improvisation of jazz.

Read the poetry of Henry David Thoreau

Although primarily known for his nonfiction, the New England transcendentalist was also a prolific poet, writing verse that, like his essays, tackled nature, man, and society. The Academy of American Poets has collected 30 of his poems, which you can read for free.

In 'Life of a Showgirl,' Taylor Swift nods to Pre-Raphaelite muse Elizabeth Siddal

Born in 1829, Siddal was an artist and poet who would become immortalized when she modeled for John Everett Millais' 1852 painting 'Ophelia,' depicting the suicidal lover from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.' For years, Swift has alluded to Siddal as an exemplar of the sidelined female artist.

The Dylan/Whitman connection

Even before his 2016 Nobel Prize, critics often wrote about Bob Dylan with a seriousness typically reserved for literary figures. In this critical analysis, Jones Hogsed continues the tradition, analyzing Dylan's vision of America alongside Walt Whitman's.

Dickens wrote his books as they were serialized in newspapers

Dickens, like many Victorian writers, published his novels as serials that were released piecemeal, over an extended period. Unlike most of his contemporaries, though, Dickens wrote the story as it was released, allowing him to respond to public reactions.

Read Langston Hughes’ most famous poems

The writer is considered one of the most important voices in American verse, noted for his use of authentic vernacular, vivid imagery, and jazz-inspired rhythm in poems such as “Harlem,” “I, Too,” and “The Weary Blues.

Poet Robert Lowell encouraged O'Connor to turn away from commercial appeal

When O'Connor secured a publisher for "Wise Blood," her publisher envisioned it as a broad, commercial comedy, something Lowell—the accomplished poet whom she met after graduate school at Yaddo, an artist colony in upstate New York—suggested she avoid, encouraging her to lean into her more esoteric and darker interests. This interview with O'Connor biographer Brad Gooch elaborates on that advice.

Whitman’s lesser-known eulogy for Lincoln, ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d'

In addition to "O Captain! My Captain!," Whitman wrote another poem for the slain Lincoln: the longer, more sullen elegy, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”

The petty ancient Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus

Classics with a capital "C" probably doesn't bring to mind erotically charged diss poetry. Gaius Valerius Catullus would like to change that. Instead of mythical epics, Catullus wrote poetry about his personal life as part of the 1st century BCE's "new wave" of Roman poets embracing the lyrical and everyday. The focus of his poetic work ranges from serenades to spiteful insults.

Shakespeare’s use of verse and prose signifies important characteristics

Structured verse signals formality, often used by high-ranking characters; in contrast, unstructured prose is typically used in informal, more witty situations by lower-status characters.

Ralph Waldo Emerson celebrated Walt Whitman, then regretted it

Emerson famously praised the first edition of Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” which Whitman used to promote the collection. In doing so, Whitman effectively created the modern book blurb, though he did so without Emerson’s permission, leading to a prolonged, passive beef between the two.

What made Mary Cassatt's art radical

Although the American Impressionist's work is sometimes dismissed as overly sentimental, these Cassatt specialists argue that her portrayals of women are often subtly subversive, emphasizing how they defy the gender norms of the time.

Blake's 'illuminated manuscripts' blended poetry and painting

Blake's poetry was often accompanied by the author's complementary illustrations. They’re masterful works of art, pieces that were unlike anything else in Blake’s time—or in ours. Thankfully, The William Blake Archive has scanned all of the original manuscripts, allowing you to see the majestic books in their entirety.

Charles Dickens' pet raven likely inspired Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven.'

Toni Morrison's novels were popular postmodern texts

Toni Morrison’s novels broke new ground in American fiction by using bold structures and colloquial voices to reckon with the country’s past, developing her approach through classic early novels like “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved,” all the way to later works like “Home.” Morrison once said, “The meaning of a novel is in its structure.”

Many critics panned Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' when it was released

The 1847 novel, initially published under a pseudonym, was seen by some early readers as obscene and cruel. One particularly brutal review from Graham's Lady's Magazine read, "How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery."

Scholars note that many Cassatt paintings are about women's labor

The women in her portraits are often performing domestic work, something that contemporary scholars consider a subtle protest of how women's labor was often overlooked during Cassatt's time. Fittingly, Cassatt often hired working-class women as models, ensuring the portraits were not only accurate but that the subjects were appropriately compensated.

A computational analysis of Jane Austen's writing

Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln translated Austen's novels into code to analyze her diction, then published their findings in a searchable database. Users can explore all six of her novels, analyzing the unique words used by her characters and the narrative techniques she employs.

In addition to his plays, Shakespeare wrote nearly 200 poems

Beyond his famous plays, Shakespeare penned 154 sonnets, including the well-known romantic ode “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” He also wrote two long poems as well as several minor pieces.

Analyzing Billie Holiday's impact on American poetry

Although Holiday is sometimes associated with the Harlem Renaissance, the Black cultural movement of the 1920s and '30s, scholar Whit Frazier Peterson argues that her real impact in poetry was on the Black Arts Movement, the more radical Black literary movement of the '60s and '70s that featured writers like Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, and Nikki Giovanni.