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Redefining Domesticity: Emily Dickinson and the Wife Persona

Medhkour, Yousra
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=uthonors1418939861

Abstract Details

2015, Bachelor of Arts, University of Toledo, English.
This essay argues a relatively new reading of Emily Dickinson’s marriage poems. The poems I have chosen to represent this category of her poetry are analyzed by combining the traditional technique of analysis with a more modern approach. In the past it was customary for critics to take the “I” in Dickinson’s poems literally by attributing each of the poems’ contents entirely to her biography. This approach assumes that Dickinson was not fit to write poetry outside of her own experience because she lived an isolated life. On the contrary, her withdrawal is one of the key elements that made Dickinson’s brilliant poetry possible. She did not need to go out into society to write about topics beyond the domestic sphere of her time period. Dickinson was intelligent enough to tackle and question different issues with the use of different personae. I find the marriage poems the most interesting because Dickinson uses the persona of a wife without having married. Some would call these marriage poems “mystical” or claim that these particular poems are Dickinson’s imagined marriage with some lover. Though I do not agree with these explanations, I believe that the marriage poems must be analyzed formally with biography in mind. Dickinson must be put into social context by understanding the role of women in society during her time period and analyzing the reason why she chose to isolate herself. In doing so, I argue that, just as Dickinson redefines domesticity by using it as a sphere for creativity rather than timidity, she also transforms the role of wife to one that suits her through the marriage poems.
Sara Lundquist, Ph.D (Advisor)
Melissa Gregory, Ph.D (Advisor)
Skaidrite Stelzer (Committee Member)
34 p.
Literature
emily dickinson; domesticity; persona; wife persona; poetry; true womanhood; dickinson; marriage

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Medhkour, Y. (2015). Redefining Domesticity: Emily Dickinson and the Wife Persona [Undergraduate thesis, University of Toledo]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=uthonors1418939861

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Medhkour, Yousra. Redefining Domesticity: Emily Dickinson and the Wife Persona. 2015. University of Toledo, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=uthonors1418939861.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Medhkour, Yousra. "Redefining Domesticity: Emily Dickinson and the Wife Persona." Undergraduate thesis, University of Toledo, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=uthonors1418939861

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

uthonors1418939861
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This open access ETD is published by University of Toledo Honors Theses and OhioLINK.