Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "August 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-219). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

The primary sources for this study are Dickinson's poems and letters. The purpose is to examine child imagery in Dickinson's work, and the investigation is based on the chronological age of children in the images. Dickinson's small child exists in mystical communion with nature and deity. Inevitably the child is wrenched from this divine state by one of three estranging forces: adult society, death, or love. After the estrangement the state of childhood may be regained only after death, at which time the soul enters immortality as a small child. The study moreover contends that one aspect of Dickinson's seclusion was an endeavor to remain a child.

abstract: ABSTRACT "The Soul Unto Itself," a chamber music song cycle, was commissioned by the author, Rosa LoGiudice, and composed by William Clay, a doctoral candidate in composition at Arizona State University. The cycle was conceived and composed in the summer and fall of 2019. The chamber ensemble was a sextet comprised of Megan Law, mezzo-soprano, Kristi Hanno, clarinet, Emilio Vazquez, violin, Rittika Gambhir, bassoon, Nathaniel De la Cruz, double bass, and Rosa LoGiudice, piano, all based in Tempe, Arizona. The song cycle was premiered in a lecture recital on December 8, 2019 at Hammer and Strings Conservatory in Gilbert, AZ. "The Soul Unto Itself" is a cycle of six songs based on poems of Emily Dickinson. The poems all have common themes of personal transformation achieved through the introspective observations of the poet. An unusual chamber ensemble was chosen to include instruments not commonly used in vocal chamber music in order to create a greater variety of musical colors and timbres. This project included the creation of the musical score, a live performance that was video recorded, and the research paper. This document discusses the process of working with the composer, rehearsing the music as it was being composed, and negotiating revisions necessary to make the music more effective in performance. Each song is discussed in detail, especially the connection between the music and poetry, the overall form of the song, revisions discussed and implemented, and important motivic relationships between the songs that unify the cycle. In summary, the process of collaborating with a composer is a rewarding experience for both the performers and the composer, as everyone is challenged to improve their craft and overcome obstacles to achieve a successful performance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2020

This essay analyses a selection of poems written by the American poet Emily Dickinson. The essay aims to explore the function of the meter in Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Earlier studies have combined Emily Dickinson’s poetry with meter, but the research of metrical pattern and form has not been sufficient enough to show Emily Dickinson’s full potential with the different meters. The purpose of this essay is to analyse how the metrical patterns are used by the poet as metrical strategies to impact the reader’s perception. One assumption is that structure and form are fundamental to her writing style. It justifies the reading of her poetry in relation to meter. The main focus was the physical structures of the poems, such as line length, metrical patterns, and systematic rhymes. The second most important aim was to analyse her other poetic devices, such as dashes and capitalizations. The findings were analysed together with the vocabulary and figurative language. The analysis shows Emily Dickinson’s poetic artistry in meter and rhyme and clarifies how she creates poetry with lyrical qualities. The result is important because it also shows that she can create poetry with metrical patterns, without in that sense being bound to meter.

This paper will discuss to what extent Emily Dickinson's heritage, environment, and experience formed her attitudes on religion and love, and will explain how successful she was in translating her intense emotional experience of love into poetry by examining her use of religious imagery.

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The purpose of this thesis is to show upon what aspects of nature Emily Dickinson's poems touch, to what extent and in what manner she uses nature terms in expressing her philosophy of life, what ideas she expresses through these terms, and finally what her own philosophy of nature is.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de montrer que le mouvement constitue le principe fondateur de la démarche intellectuelle et poétique d’Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Mis au service d’une pensée qui ne cessa de se remettre en question et de combattre les certitudes et les schémas (culturels, religieux…) établis, le mouvement se révèle être une arme de déstabilisation et de déconstruction critique visant à discréditer tous les systèmes de pensée et de croyances jugés autoritaires et « dogmatiques », au sens fort où l’entendaient les sceptiques anciens, avec lesquels Dickinson présente d’évidentes affinités. Mais le mouvement apparaît également comme un principe vital et un agent de construction dans les poèmes : il permet d’élaborer, par voie de réécritures subversives et de détournements subtils, une approche du monde, de la connaissance et de la foi, qui vise aussi bien à légitimer la puissance de la pensée et de l’expérience individuelles qu’à rendre compte de ce que l’incertitude, l’instabilité et le changement sont l’essence même de la pensée et de la vie. Située au croisement de la poétique, de l’épistémologie et de l’approche dite « culturelle », cette thèse se propose d’examiner les formes du mouvement présentes dans l’œuvre de Dickinson en les mettant en regard d’une scène nationale elle-même mouvementée, placée sous le signe de la rupture, de la crise et du doute, mais également portée par un élan de libération et de renouveau qui vit l’émergence de nouvelles forces (politiques, économiques, sociales, culturelles) qui entendaient valoriser et défendre la liberté et l’épanouissement individuels. / The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the fundamental poetic and intellectual principle in the work of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is movement. In the service of an intellect that constantly questioned and challenged the established religious and cultural frameworks, movement firstly reveals itself to be a weapon of destabilisation and critical deconstruction : indeed, it aims to discredit and overturn systems of thought and beliefs deemed authoritarian and dogmatic, the latter in the strong sense as understood by the ancient sceptics, with whom Dickinson had obvious affinities. Movement however also appears as a vital principle and a constructive agent within her work : through subversive rewritings and subtle deviations, it enables the elaboration of an approach to the world, knowledge and faith, which seeks as much to legitimise the power of individual experience and reflection, as to acknowledge that uncertainty, instability and change are the very essence of thought and of life. At the intersection of poetics, epistemology and cultural studies, this thesis thus examines the forms of movement present in Dickinson’s work, by considering them alongside a turbulent national context, itself characterized by rupture, crisis and doubt, but equally impelled by a momentum towards liberation and renewal, which saw the emergence of new forces (political, economic, social, cultural) valorising and defending the freedom and flourishing of the individual.

Emily Dickinson's seclusion is explored in light of her family's strange entanglement with the Todds. Austin Dickinson's affair with Mabel Loomis Todd, and the effect on the lives of Susan Dickinson, Lavinia Dickinson, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, David Todd, and Millicent Todd Bingham, provide a steamy context for the posthumous publication of Emily Dickinson's poetry. The screenplay includes original music (inspired by the dashes and an old hymn) for two poems: "Wild Nightsl Wild Nights!" and "Better - than Music!" Also included are visualizations of many of Dickinson's images, including "circumference," "Eden," "the bee," and "immortality."