A Transcendentalist Study of the Seclusion Theme in Emily Dickinson’s Poems_英语论文

摘要

本文以艾米莉·狄金森的隐逸主题诗歌为例，结合狄金森的个人生活经历分析其诗歌文本中流露出的情感，探究她内心的自我保护策略。诗人接触了社会及文学界规则后，为了避免自己被社会传统改变而选择隐居生活。狄金森生活在超验主义盛行的时代，她的思想和隐居的生活经历也跟超验主义中所提倡的自然主义的观点不谋而合。藉由爱默生的几个超验主义关键词重新审视这种自我保护的情感，总结出诗人对自尊自信的人格特质和对精神完美的终极追求。本研究主要意义在于从超验主义角度揭示了隐逸诗歌中蕴涵的作者价值观与其隐逸观中的个人独特之处，从而丰富了狄金森的诗人形象。

关键词:狄金森  隐逸主题诗歌  自我保护  自尊自信  精神完美 

Abstract

Taking Emily Dickinson’s seclusion-theme poems as examples, this thesis reveals Dickinson’s emotional trajectory in her poems, explores and enriches the poet’s image. To analyze her emotional tone in her poems and explore her inner self-preservation strategies, this thesis studies her poems, combining with her personal life experience, especially the seclusion experience. After perceiving the rules of society and literature, the poet chose to live in seclusion in order to avoid being changed by social convention. Dickinson lived in a time when transcendentalism was prevalent, and her thoughts and experience of solitude coincided with the naturalistic views advocated by transcendentalists. In light of several transcendental key words from Emerson’s naturalism, the poet's personality traits are revealed as self-esteem and confidence; her ultimate pursuit of spiritual perfection is examined via self-preservation.

The thesis reveals a richer and real Emily Dickinson by exploring her values on the society and cultural communities implied in the seclusion-theme poems and the uniqueness of her world view in light of transcendentalism. 

Key words: Emily Dickinson  seclusion theme  self-preservation  spiritual perfection

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  Research background and significance 1

1.2  Introduction to Emily Dickinson’ s life 2

1.3  Theoretical perspective, research questions and methods 3

1.4  Structure of the thesis 3

Chapter Two  Literature Review 5

2.1  Previous researches on Emily Dickinson 5

2.2  Theoretical framework 6

2.2.1 Emerson's transcendentalist thought 7

2.2.2 American transcendentalism and seclusion 8

Chapter Three  Emotional expression in Dickinson’s seclusion 

theme poems 11

3.1  Emotional expression in Dickinson’s seclusion theme poems 11

3.2  Self-preservation embodied in emotions of poems with seclusion theme 12

3.3  A transcendentalist analysis of the essence of self-preservation 16

Chapter Four  The poet’s personality traits revealed in the seclusion 

theme poems 20

4.1  Personality lay behind the self-preservation emotion 20

4.2  Manifestation of spiritual perfection 24

Chapter Five  Conclusion 29

Bibiography

Acknowledgements