To Emily Dickinson

The poem "To Emily Dickinson" was very different and interesting to read. It defined Modernism within it because of the main character Emily Dickinson. Emily was secluded and alienated from all humans during the later years in her life, which is the main characteristic of Modernism. According to dictionary.com, alienation is “the state of being withdrawn or isolated from the objective world, as through indifference or disaffection.” Harold Heart Crane’s life affected this poem greatly. Crane was also secluded from his family because he was different than everyone else. This aspect of his life helped him write this poem. "To Emily Dickinson" is very similar to a short story called "A Rose for Emily". In both poems, the main characters are alienated from the rest of society. "To Emily Dickinson" is also similar to "Chaplenesque" by the same author.

To Emily Dickinson defines Modernism very well. The main character in this poem is Emily Dickinson. During Dickinson’s later life she alienated herself from society. Others saw her as weird, but she saw herself as an individual, which is the main characteristic of the Modernism period.

Harold Hart Crane had a very difficult childhood. “The latter possibility is one that must have appeared increasingly sweet to Crane, whose childhood and youth were spent in the company of parents utterly incompatible with each other and whose young manhood was marked by alcoholism and a series of fleeting, mostly homosexual affairs that never really satisfied him. In 1932, he killed himself by leaping from the deck of a ship” (Quote of the Day). “As Dickinson put it: ‘I could not stop for death,/So he kindly stopped for me’” (Quote of the Day). This may have been the reason that Crane wrote his poem about Emily Dickinson, because she wrote about death and dying, which is what he wanted to do.

"To Emily Dickinson" is very similar to the short story "A Rose for Emily". Both represent Modernism fully because of the main characters. Both are individualists and alienate themselves from society. The writing styles were also very similar because in both the poem and the short story, a narrator that is not involved in the story is talking. A difference is that "To Emily Dickinson" is a poem, while "A Rose to Emily" is a short story.

"At Melville’s Tomb" by Crane is very different than "To Emily Dickinson". "At Melville’s Tomb" does not represent Modernism. It mentions oceans and water, both of which do not go with the Modernism period. The characters are different as well. In "To Emily Dickinson" the main character was Emily Dickinson. In "At Melville’s Tomb" the main character was water.

"To Emily Dickinson" had a characteristic of Modernism, which is alienation and seclusion. The main character of this poem is Emily Dickinson. During her life she was secluded from other people and the rest of the world, which is a characteristic of Modernism. The poem is very similar to "A Rose for Emily". "To Emily Dickinson" is very different to the poem "At Melville's Tomb" by Crane. Harold Crane's writings represents his life very well because like Emily Dickinson, Harold was also secluded by the rest of her family.