Analysis of the Similar Characteristics in the Works of Dickinson and Bishop

Abstract

Emily Dickinson and Elizabeth Bishop are both the most influential poets in western literary history. They both lived in a time of great change, and they both were seen as more silent than men. Dickinson lived a reclusive life until her death, she devoted almost her whole life to writing, and created 1775 poems in her lifetime. Her lonely life nourished her poetry, and despite frequent illness and unrequited affection, Dickinson’s relationship with poetry was inextricably inseparable. As for the modern American poet Bishop, she always shuttles between different countries in her life. This experience of displacement and migration is not only her pleasure, but also the source of her loneliness and pain. There are many similarities in the life and creation of Bishop and Dickinson, both of whom have experienced the misfortune of growing up, and both have doubts about the identity as poets and as women. This paper explores the similarities between the two poets’ creations and the causes from the aspects of time, physical condition and spiritual pursuit. The causes are their thoughts of life, death and female identity, as well as their pursuit of peace, which takes modern American poetry to a whole new level.