In this study the author compares the broad outlines of Blake's and Dickinson's thought, pointing out evidence of decisive Biblical influence not only on the content of their thought but on their attitude toward language as well. the author argues that both poets assumed the philosophical position of Job as they interpreted the Bible independently and as they explored many dimensions of experience in the fallen world. The author represents their thought not as a fixed system but as a faith-based pattern of Christian/Platonic questing for truth.

By reading mournful poems rhetorically, I expand the concept of the elegy in order to reveal continuities between private and communal modes of mourning. My emphasis on readers of elegies challenges writer-centered definitions of the elegy, like that given by Peter Sacks, who describes how the elegy's formal conventions express the elegist's own motives for writing. Although Sacks's Freudian approach helpfully delineates some of the consoling effects that writing poetry has on the elegist herself, this dissertation revises such writer-centered concepts of the elegy by asking how elegies rhetorically invoke ethical relationships between writers and readers. By reading elegiac poems through Kenneth Burke's rhetorical theories and Emmanuel Levinas's ethics, I argue that these poems characterize, as Levinas suggests, subjectivity as fundamentally structured by ethical relationships with others. In keeping with this ethical focus, I analyze anthology poems, meaning short lyric poems written by acclaimed authors, easily accessible, and easily remembered - including several well-known poems by such authors as Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Robert Frost. Anthology pieces invite ethical evaluation in part because they represent what counts as valuable poetry - and also, by implication, what does not. Because anthology poems are read by broad, diverse audiences, I suggest that a rhetorical methodology focusing on writer-reader relationships is essential to evaluating these poems' ethical implications. This rhetorical approach to poetry, however, questions rhetoricians and aesthetic theorists from Aristotle and Longinus to Lloyd F. Bitzer and Derek Attridge who emphasize distinctions between rhetoric and poetics. I address the ongoing debate about the relationship between rhetoric and poetics by arguing, along the lines of Wayne C. Booth's affirmation that fiction and rhetoric are interconnected, that poetry and rhetoric are likewise integrally tied. To this debate, I add an emphasis on philosophy - from which Plato, Ramus, and others exclude rhetoric and poetry - as likewise essential to understanding both poetry and rhetoric. By recognizing the interrelatedness of these disciplines, we may better clarify poetry's broad, ethical appeals that seem so valuable to readers in situations of loss.

Historically, women have not been "speaking subjects" but "spoken objects" in Western culture--the ground on which male-dominated constructions have been erected. In literature, women have been conventionally held as the silent and silenced other. Lyric poetry especially has idealized not only the entrenched figures of masculine subject/feminine object, but poetry itself as the site of prophecy, vision, Truth. Most dramatically in lyric poetry then, the issue of women as subjects has been collapsed into Woman as object, that figure who has been the sacrifice necessary for the production of lyric "song" and the consolidation of the unified masculine voice. It has thus been difficult for women poets to take up the position of speaking subject, most particularly because of women's problematic relationship to Woman. Recent feminist theorists have explored female subjectivity, how women put into hegemonic discourse "a possible operation of the feminine." This dissertation analyzes that possibility in poetry as exemplified in the works of Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, and H.D. I contend that these paradigmatic American poets constitute speaking subjects in their poetry that both figure Woman conventionally and reconfigure it, i.e. subvert the stability of those representations, thereby disturbing our view. I argue that this double identification produces, in effect, a divided or split subjectivity that is enabling for the female speaker. As an alternative to the traditionally specularized figure of Woman then, such a position opens up distinctly counter-hegemonic spaces in which to constitute the female subject, rendering problematic readerly consumption of the image of Woman as a totality. I explore the attempts to represent women's difference differently--the tenuous accession to, rejection of, or play with the lyric "I" in these poets' works. Dickinson, Moore, and H.D. reconfigure Woman and inscribe female speakers as grammatically and rhetorically, but not necessarily visually, present, thereby frustrating patriarchal economies of mastery and possession.

由於其個人獨特的生命背景與歷程，一般咸認為美國詩人艾蜜莉．狄金森（1830-1886）詩作中，充滿了對自然世界的細膩觀察以及精神世界的嚮往和追求。這樣的看法，固然是將狄金森的詩作，置放於十九世紀英國浪漫主義、美國愛默生的超越主義等文藝思想脈絡之下，以期盼引發及獲得對其詩作更深刻的詮釋與閱讀。然而，事實上，在十九世紀這百年當中，最重大的思想衝擊，莫如英國自然學者查爾斯．達爾文（1809-1882）於一八五九年所出版的《物種源始》（另譯《物種起源》）所帶來的影響為甚。達爾文所提出不假未知力量的物種演化理論，非但已成為今日科學／生物學研究的基石，同時也廣泛影響了十九世紀大西洋兩岸的社會、文化、藝術及科學等各層面的發展與演繹。 本論文擬從十九世紀「科學－宗教」、「物質－精神」之間的拔河與辯論為經，以發掘狄金森與達爾文兩人生命歷史當中的異同及互動為緯，透過閱讀狄金森的文字書寫（包括詩作與書信等）以及達爾文《物種起源》（初版及第二版），探討兩人於「演化」觀念上的交疊與對話。基於上述討論，我以為狄金森的文字書寫，藉由普遍出現於詩作裡、無論是自然領域，抑或觀念領域上的對立主題與意象，誠然為詩人企圖揉合十九世紀科學論述、宗教爭議與個人思想於詩的寫作之中；藉由生動的表現、積極的反省與回應各種衝突與對立的實體和觀念，來展現其迥異於全然唯心或全然唯物的「演化詩學」。 本論文共分為五章。在引論中，首先藉著閱讀現今生物行為學研究，帶入狄金森詩作中的生物與科學主題，企圖將狄金森放置於十九世紀達爾文及其演化觀念的脈絡下。第一章嘗試整理十九世紀「科學－宗教」、「物質－精神」之間的辯論，來檢視狄金森與達爾文兩人生命歷史中常被忽略的相似處與交集。第二章討論狄金森詩作中的科學主題，用以凸顯詩人對當代科學思想的發展所做的積極回應。第三章先討論十九世紀「科學方法與精神」的內涵，將達爾文《物種起源》與狄金森的詩作並置閱讀，從「死亡」、「演化路徑」、「視界的物質性」三個層面來發展鋪陳詩人的「演化詩學」。最後，檢視與思考前述各篇章所帶出的議題，並援引蕭沆（E. M. Cioran）思考文字與科學時代之間的關係、諾里斯（Margot Norris）所指出達爾文作為於今難已復見的「生物中心觀」文學傳統之濫觴，以及尼采「懷疑為人的兩棲本質」，總結提出狄金森「演化詩學」成為一種文學觀的可能。 / From the traditions of English Romanticism, Emersonian Transcendentalism, and the seclusion of the poet, Emily Dickinson’s poetry has generally been read and regarded as lyrical and spiritual. In addition, the most studies of Dickinson’s poetry tend to show the idiosyncrasy and uniqueness of the poet with her observations of Nature, use of language, feminine identity, or the mixture of these three topics. However, scholarly efforts over the years also indicate that for a better and fruitful understanding and appreciation of Emily Dickinson, we have to examine and interpret her life and writings under bigger ideological and cultural contexts of the nineteenth century. Among the innovations of knowledge and conceptions in the nineteenth century, Darwin’s materialistic theories to explain the evolution of species by means of natural selection, in the eyes of the naturalist’s contemporaries and modern people, are certainly still one of the most scientifically important and ideologically controversial ideas. In this study of Emily Dickinson’s poetry, I would like to argue that as a poet of great intellect, whose poems are filled with scientific contents and observations of the natural world, Emily Dickinson not only is familiar with Darwinian biological arguments but also incorporates evolutionary ideas, not limited to Darwin’s, into her poetic writings. Moreover, as Darwinian theories have triggered the debates between science and religion, the constant reflections on religious faith are also pervasive in Dickinson’s poetry and her correspondence. Thus, instead of reading Emily Dickinson’s writings straightforwardly under the framework of Darwinism, I would like to put Darwin and Dickinson in parallel—the transatlantic intersections of their lives and their works, The Origin of Species and Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Through examining these nineteenth-century historical and cultural figures and the interactions between different currents of ideologies, we will hopefully be able to see more clearly and uncover how Dickinson renders this well-known biological theory and further develops her own poetic evolution, which surpasses the materialistic and metaphysical boundaries in the physical as well as spiritual worlds.

The aim of this thesis is to show that Emily Dickinson was not concerned with the publication of her poems and she herself decided to withdraw from the outside world, a decisive event which contributed to the original production of her almost eighteen hundred poems and over eleven hundred letters. Emily Dickinson withdrew into her untouched private world – which here is called “the bubble” – and developed the contemplation process based on the approach of apprehending perceptions which resulted in the instant captions that have enchanted readers. Since her withdrawal was as a result of her own free choice and own writing and living conventions, she was able to be the craftsperson that enjoyed living and writing. Her perception of nature by taking instant captions of the observable natural objects is perfected by the process of contemplation developed in some of her poems. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study comes from the analysis of the complete edition of poems edited by Thomas H. Johnson, the letters edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, and the concept of Nature by Hans Georg Schenk. For the analyses of different issues related to Dickinson’s verses, withdrawal, and apprehension of perceptions, the works of the biographer Richard Benson Sewall and critics such as Albert Gelpi, Barton Levi Armand, Karl Keller, Sharon Cameron, among others, were consulted. This study aims to demonstrate that Emily Dickinson was not concerned with publication and her withdrawal within her bubble was a positive event for her life and poetry. Such conclusion might contribute to enlighten the knowledge about the life and work of such an amazing personage of American Literature and American society as Emily Dickinson has been so far.

This dissertation engages in a critical analysis of the poetry of Emily Dickinson which, to me, suggests that the poet suffered from a type of manic-depression known specifically in psychiatric parlance as bipolar disorder. I argue that although Dickinson experienced much pain and suffering she learnt, through time, to address, understand and contain adversity - that ultimately, she transformed these experiences into the raw materials for poetic creation. Dickinson's poetic achievements are often obscured by a misunderstanding of her mental and emotional constitution. This thesis provides an alternative to the views of those commentators who maintain that Emily Dickinson was insane, neurotic or delusional. I intend, ultimately, to offer the reader a fresh insight into Emily Dickinson's poetry by reading it from the assumption that she suffered from bipolar disorder. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

The aim of this thesis is to show that Emily Dickinson was not concerned with the publication of her poems and she herself decided to withdraw from the outside world, a decisive event which contributed to the original production of her almost eighteen hundred poems and over eleven hundred letters. Emily Dickinson withdrew into her untouched private world – which here is called “the bubble” – and developed the contemplation process based on the approach of apprehending perceptions which resulted in the instant captions that have enchanted readers. Since her withdrawal was as a result of her own free choice and own writing and living conventions, she was able to be the craftsperson that enjoyed living and writing. Her perception of nature by taking instant captions of the observable natural objects is perfected by the process of contemplation developed in some of her poems. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study comes from the analysis of the complete edition of poems edited by Thomas H. Johnson, the letters edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, and the concept of Nature by Hans Georg Schenk. For the analyses of different issues related to Dickinson’s verses, withdrawal, and apprehension of perceptions, the works of the biographer Richard Benson Sewall and critics such as Albert Gelpi, Barton Levi Armand, Karl Keller, Sharon Cameron, among others, were consulted. This study aims to demonstrate that Emily Dickinson was not concerned with publication and her withdrawal within her bubble was a positive event for her life and poetry. Such conclusion might contribute to enlighten the knowledge about the life and work of such an amazing personage of American Literature and American society as Emily Dickinson has been so far.

The aim of this thesis is to show that Emily Dickinson was not concerned with the publication of her poems and she herself decided to withdraw from the outside world, a decisive event which contributed to the original production of her almost eighteen hundred poems and over eleven hundred letters. Emily Dickinson withdrew into her untouched private world – which here is called “the bubble” – and developed the contemplation process based on the approach of apprehending perceptions which resulted in the instant captions that have enchanted readers. Since her withdrawal was as a result of her own free choice and own writing and living conventions, she was able to be the craftsperson that enjoyed living and writing. Her perception of nature by taking instant captions of the observable natural objects is perfected by the process of contemplation developed in some of her poems. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study comes from the analysis of the complete edition of poems edited by Thomas H. Johnson, the letters edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, and the concept of Nature by Hans Georg Schenk. For the analyses of different issues related to Dickinson’s verses, withdrawal, and apprehension of perceptions, the works of the biographer Richard Benson Sewall and critics such as Albert Gelpi, Barton Levi Armand, Karl Keller, Sharon Cameron, among others, were consulted. This study aims to demonstrate that Emily Dickinson was not concerned with publication and her withdrawal within her bubble was a positive event for her life and poetry. Such conclusion might contribute to enlighten the knowledge about the life and work of such an amazing personage of American Literature and American society as Emily Dickinson has been so far.

This dissertation works against the longstanding literary critical premise that aesthetics and ethics are at odds. I challenge this notion by foregrounding the verse of four nineteenth-century-born and Northeastern-based poets who unapologetically prioritize aesthetic perception and experience in their writing. These poets—Frederick Goddard Tuckerman, Emily Dickinson, Olivia Ward Bush, and William Stanley Braithwaite—were well aware of the criticism politicians, social reformers, educators, business proponents, and even other writers leveled against the functional and ethical utility of poetry in an era when transatlantic industrial revolutions and innovations in manufacturing and transportation technology contributed to a national ethos that celebrated progress and productivity in the most concrete terms. These developments, coupled with moral and political divisions over slavery and the economic and psychic strain of a nationwide war that brought life’s precariousness into relief, spurred citizens to contemplate their sense of purpose in contexts ranging from the vocational to the existential. Writers and poets in particular faced continual pressures to defend the practical value of their work. What makes the four poets in this dissertation unparalleled, I suggest, is the way they challenge readers to revise and expand their understanding of the aesthetic by devoting poetic attention to unsettling and unsightly products and processes in the natural world. Moldering plant matter, heaps of manure, broom-ravaged spiderwebs, and fragments of driftwood; the kinds of waste and remains normally deemed indecorous for nineteenth-century verse become vibrant and arresting in the work of these poets. Yet while each poet approaches humble and neglected phenomena as worthy of aesthetic treatment, they do so without idealizing the unpalatable and disregarded subjects they portray in verse. The attention they devote to the abject—a witnessing they extrapolate from literal to human nature—is, as I show over the course of this dissertation, an ethical and political act. In addition to upholding the unsettling and unglamorous qualities of the natural subjects they honor, these poets also abstain from sentimentalizing the elements of lived experience that inform their writing, and refuse to downplay the often demanding process of poetic composition itself. While this dissertation’s insistence on regarding aspects of nature that nineteenth-century poetry has traditionally neglected is, in part, an ecocritical intervention, my project is also a call to dignify the artistic labors that reframe overlooked natural phenomena as worthy of aesthetic attention. To portray writing as work is to regard the craft as just as substantial and legitimate a pursuit as occupations whose effects are more straightforwardly measurable in practical terms. Indeed, each poet in this dissertation insists upon depicting poetic making as a labor that requires the same dexterity as the construction of an architectural structure and that has as dramatic and far-reaching effects as military and legislative developments. Far from posing an escapist diversion from the social and civic realities of their day, I argue, these poets frame aesthetic creation and experience as fundamental to human nature, especially during wartime and periods of political upheaval.

This dissertation centers around the impact that geology and its ideas had on nineteenth writers just as it was defining itself from other natural sciences. Geological questions about how rocks and dirt were formed, where they came from, and what kinds of forces act on them are at the heart of the texts I engage here: the writings of Orra White Hitchcock in her travel journals, Emily Dickinson, Edmund Ruffin, and Charles W. Chesnutt; along with the stories told about spirits who inhabit bodies of water in South Carolina, and the illustrations and paintings of Orra Hitchcock. The central concept that the dissertation explores is geopoetics: the modelling of literary and artistic form on geologic processes. In its formal strategies, geopoetic writing aims to establish relationships, explicitly or implicitly, between many changing conditions and across many different temporal moments, all at once. As geologists and average people alike struggled to understand the place of the human in developing theories of how the planet was formed and reformed, the writers I engage here used these theories in their own texts as models for thinking about a series of relationships, both between persons and between humans and the nonhuman world. Though informed by geological research and ideas, geopoetics are not the static transposition of geology’s theories onto the texts I engage with here. Instead, these texts are the means by which their writers explore geologic ideas and the longue dureé natural processes that shape them. Geopoetics occur when an author’s writing strategy recalls the connections between natural and human-made networks in its form, by creating an interplay of literary or poetic structure and geologic imagery. What I mean by this is that the majority of these texts don’t simply feature allusions to geologic features, but, as I show, fundamentally engage with understandings of geological processes in their formal composition. If a volcano in a Dickinson poem, for example, is the vehicle of a metaphor, the volcano doesn’t simply take on the meanings which the metaphor aims to convey. It also causes Dickinson to write in ways that are particularly volcanic – through expansive, oozing analogies that ingest the external world. Hitchcock, Ruffin and Chesnutt, along with believers in bisimbi all make use of the ecosystemic layers that are embodied by rock formations in their writings. For Chesnutt, this looks like the gradual accumulation of conjure stories in his imagination which, though heard when he was a child, come back to retell their stories in his writing as though they had possessed him. In his narratives, conjure stays imbedded in locations throughout his landscapes, catching characters off-guard and radically changing them, sometimes with no clear origin point or conjurer to attribute the spells to. As the above paragraph suggests, Chesnutt, Dickinson, Hitchcock, Ruffin, and tellers of simbi stories each have specific geopoetic strategies with which they explore geologic theories. Subsequently, they each create the interplay of geologic allusion and literary form I describe above in their own, particular ways.