PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Department of Secondary Education

Module in EL 12:
Survey of English and
American Literature
MODULE: AMERICAN ROMANTIC PERIOD—EMILY DICKINSON

MODULE Emily Dickinson

1. Short background
about Emily Dickinson
2. Emily Dickinson’s
sample works:
Success is Counted
Sweetest

If I Can Stop One

Heart from Breaking

The Soul Selects Her

Own Society

Because I Could Not

Stop for Death

I Heard a Fly Buzz

When I Died

OVERVIEW

In your previous lessons, you have learned about the different authors from the
different periods. You’ve also read their works and writings. Perhaps, you already have
chosen your favorite author and poem out of the authors and poems you studied. But we
are not yet done, another author and her works will be introduced to you today.
This lesson will take you to the life of Emily Dickinson as an author, and the nature of
her works. Bring with you the skills you have already developed in analyzing poems and
the messages they convey, as we dive into this lesson and study five of Emily Dickinson’s
poems.

EL 12- Survey of English and American Literature 1

MODULE: AMERICAN ROMANTIC PERIOD—EMILY DICKINSON

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. State knowledge about the American Romantic Period.

2. Demonstrate understanding on the life of Emily Dickinson.
3. Interpret Emily Dickinson’s sample works.

LET US EXPLORE

Activity 1: Just by Reading the Title!

Instruction: Below are the titles of the poems written by Emily Dickinson. Without reading
the poems yet and by just reading the titles alone, what do you think each of the poem is
about? Use the table below for your answer.

Title Your idea

Success is Counted
Sweetest

If I Can Stop One Heart

from Breaking

The Soul Selects Her Own

Society

Because I could not stop for

Death

I Heard a Fly Buzz When I

Died

Titles do play a big part in poems, or in literature as a whole. They serve as the window
to the literature’s content. In the above activity, you used your knowledge in analyzing and
understanding a text just by reading the titles alone. Now, let us see if your guesses are right.

LESSON: SOME OF EMILY DICKINSON’S WORKS

AMERICAN ROMANTIC PERIOD IN LITERAURE

• The European Romantic movement reached America during the early 19th century.
• American Romantic writers delighted in free expression and emotion without fear of
ridicule and controversy.

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MODULE: AMERICAN ROMANTIC PERIOD—EMILY DICKINSON

• Focuses on imagination, emotion, nature and individuality.

• Romantics believed that discovery comes from intuition and feelings.
• Creativity was more highly valued than logic.

EMILY DICKINSON

• Born December 10, 1830 in Amherst Massachusetts; Died May 15, 1886 (aged
55) in Amherst Massachusetts
• Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1,800 poems. Though few were published in her
lifetime, she sent hundreds to friends, relatives, and others—often with, or as part of,
letters. She also made clean copies of her poems on fine stationery and then sewed
small bundles of these sheets together, creating 40 booklets.
• She habitually worked in verse forms suggestive of hymns and ballads, with lines of
three or four stresses. Her unusual off-rhymes have been seen as both experimental
and influenced by the 18th-century hymnist Isaac Watts.
• She freely ignored the usual rules of versification and even of grammar, and in
the intellectual content of her work she likewise proved exceptionally bold and
original.

HER SAMPLE WORKS

Success is Counted Sweetest

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host

Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of victory

As he defeated – dying –
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

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MODULE: AMERICAN ROMANTIC PERIOD—EMILY DICKINSON

The Soul Selects Her Own Society

The Soul selects her own Society —

Then — shuts the Door —
To her divine Majority —
Present no more —
Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing —
At her low Gate —
Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat —
I've known her — from an ample nation —
Choose One —
Then — close the Valves of her attention —
Like Stone —

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –

EL 12- Survey of English and American Literature 4

MODULE: AMERICAN ROMANTIC PERIOD—EMILY DICKINSON

I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air -
Between the Heaves of Storm -

The Eyes around - had wrung them dry -

And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset - when the King
Be witnessed - in the Room -

I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away

What portion of me be
Assignable - and then it was
There interposed a Fly -

With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz -

Between the light - and me -
And then the Windows failed - and then
I could not see to see -

Notice that in the poems, Emily did not focus on one specific topic or genre. Her
poems are a collection of creative ideas—from personal ideals to beliefs to death. As
an American poet in the Romantic period, her poems truly highlighted imagination,
creativity, emotion and individuality.

Activity 1.2 Interpret Me!

Choose one from the five poems above, then interpret it. Use the table below for
your answer.

Poem Your interpretation

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MODULE: AMERICAN ROMANTIC PERIOD—EMILY DICKINSON

REFERENCES

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emily-Dickinson
http://jordansylaramericanliterature.weebly.com/the-romantic-period.html
https://poets.org/poem/soul-selects-her-own-society-303
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45703/i-heard-a-fly-buzz-when-i-died-591
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47652/because-i-could-not-stop-for-death-479
http://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=2330
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45721/success-is-counted-sweetest-112

EL 12- Survey of English and American Literature 6