Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson used a handful of themes in her poems. The most common themes included lessons of life, love, nature, and time. It is well known that Dickinson was very much an introverted person. She spent a lot of her adulthood as a homebody, working in her room at any chance she got. In fact, she only shared her work with those close to her. Dickinson's poems often shared her deepest feelings and emotions. They differed from the usual literary works of her time because they generally focused on the war taking place at that time. In the poem "The Lightning is a Yellow Fork", Dickinson uses this emotion to explain the fear that many felt from the war and of death. Her ability to give off such emotion by sing relatable topics and clever imagery is outstanding. Dickinson metaphorically compares lightning to a fork. She calls the tool "the awful cutlery" and uses it to show the fear of Americans (Dickinson 341). She explains how the darkness is not fully hidden, and only those of true ignorance do not see it. Those unaware of the issues might as well have no brain at all. It takes intelligence and a point of view for one to stand up for something. They must be inspired and, at the same time, dependable. Each of these traits makes for the perfect activist. Although Dickinson was the quiet type, she wrote with strong emotions and opinions. She might not have been acting out against issues like that of Henry David Thoreau, but the simplicity of her emotional approach did just as much justice. Most of her words weren’t publicly seen until after Emily Dickinson’s death, but her words touched readers just the same. Her topics had strong meanings, but she related them so nicely to other issues that they lasted much longer than her life. Even today Dickinson’s poem could be used by readers to relate to their own lives. She touched upon the simplest problems faced in life to the hardest of loving relationships.

Dickinson, Emily. “The Lightning is a Yellow Fork". Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 341. Print.