Nature & Morbidity

in
Emily Dickinson’s Poetry

PRESENTED BY:
INAM IKRAM
MASROOR UD DIN
SABA JAVAID
ABDUL HAMEED
 About Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson, the "Belle of Amherst", is an American

poet.
In America, perhaps only Walt Whitman is her equal in
legend and in degree of influence.
She secretly produced an enormous canon of poetry while
locked in her room and refusing visitor after visitor.
Born in December of 1830 to a well-known family that lived
in the then-small farming town of Amherst, Massachusetts.
Her relationship with her mother was distant, and though she
was likely her father's favorite.
 About Emily Dickinson

In1850 she began writing poetry.

During her visit to Philadelphia, she met Dr. Charles
Wadsworth and she deeply admired him who was his love
interest and he inspired much of her love poetry but her
love poetry was private.
During the 1860s and 1870s, Dickinson grew even more
reclusive. 
In 1886, Dickinson's health began deteriorating.
She died on May 15, 1886, and was buried in a white
coffin in Amherst.
 Emily Dickinson’s Eccentricity

Lived much of her life in isolation

Avoided gatherings and had been a recluse
Deaths of her dear ones traumatized her
Corresponded through letters
Regularly attended her family's church
 Emily Dickinson’s Eccentricity

Dickinson stood out as an eccentric when, as a young girl, she

refused to join the church officially or even to call herself a Christian.
During the 1860s and 1870s, Dickinson grew even more reclusive.
She stopped wearing clothes that had any hint of color and dressed
only in white
She turned away almost every visitor who came to see her, and she
locked herself in her room for days at a time.
In the late 1870s and early 1880s, a number of people close to
Dickinson died in quick succession, including her mother, her friend
Judge Otis Lord, her young nephew, her good friend Helen Fiske
Hunt and Dr. Charles Wadsworth.
The concept of NATURE & MORBIDITY

Like most writers, Emily Dickinson wrote about what

she knew and about what intrigued her.
As a keen observer, she used images
from nature, religion, fashion, and domestic activities
to probe universal themes: the wonders of nature, the
identity of the self, death and immortality, and love.
The concept of nature and death are paramount into
her two poems:
1. “This Is My Letter to the World”
2. I Heard A Fly Buzz—When I Died”
NATURE in “This Is My Letter to the
World”

This is my letter to the world,

That never wrote to me,–
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.
Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!
 NATURE in “This Is My Letter to the
World”

One of the best-known poems

Dedicates to the audience that’s World
This poem is legacy and appeal to the world
1st line of the poem is a type of Complaint
3rd and 4th line has the subject-matter
“The simple news that Nature told, with tender
majesty.”
Subject-matter of the poem is Universe,
interpretation of Nature’s message
 NATURE in “This Is My Letter to the
World”

Nature’s message being transmitted whom she

can’t see
Finally appeals to her countrymen to judge her
leniently for the sake of Nature whom they love
She loves nature as they love Nature
Therefore, she asks for to be soft and gentle in
their judgement about the poetess
 MORBIDITY in “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 -
 MORBIDITY in “I Heard A Fly Buzz—
When I Died”
This poem is about Death
The speaker is on death-bed and she/he is sighing
her last
It’s a transition from life to death, from this world
to the hereafter
Death entails tears, heavy breaths, signed will,
distribution of belongings
 MORBIDITY in “I Heard A Fly Buzz—
When I Died”
Death is personified as King
Fly represents decay and death
“Windows failed” as chances of existence are
sealed
“Could not see to see” as Death has embraced
her/him and got shifted to the other world.
THANK YOU