The Romanticism of the Patriarchy versus Poems by Emily Dickinson

Author

AnaMelissa Carrion, CUNY City CollegeFollow

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Department

English

First Advisor

Harold Veeser

Keywords

Emily Dickinson, Patriarchy, Womens equality, poem analysis, the un named problem, individual closeting.

Abstract

Using poems by Emily Dickinson I will disect the closeting of the poet herself, meaning the hidden identity of the author from within her own work. The poems used here reference a writer hiding in plain sight, comparison to womens equality and how women have over centuries hidden their true identities in order to fit into the mandated social role of "feminine" as defined by men. The cyclical progression of womens rights movements.

This paper discusses how women will change their character and fundamental self development creating "closeted selves" or hidden selves they share to the world while hiding their true selves and inner thoughts. This leads to a severe personal deviation of self and character that diminishes women till this day. Womens equality is a cyclical trap that tricks women into thinking they are moving ahead. Emily Dickinson found a way to hide herself in plain sight while still creating a method to secretly share her inner thoughts labellng her an outcasst.

Comments

• Emily Dickinson : Selected Letters. Edited by Thoman J. Johnson
• The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Edited by R.W. Franklyn
• The Feminine Mystique written by Betty Friedan

Recommended Citation

Carrion, AnaMelissa, "The Romanticism of the Patriarchy versus Poems by Emily Dickinson" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1219