Anti or Transcendentalist?

ivy wrote:From a more general overview, I still believe that Dickinson is tipping toward transcendentalism. She seeks her self identity through her creations, and she also examines whether she should be a foolish follower of religion, or see it as it is from her own eyes. She may have the anti-transcendental beliefs of limited human potential, but a greater portion of herself seeks for a relationship with Nature and her inner being.

Emily Dickinson certainly prevents a view of transcendentalism. From This Is My Letter to the World, Dickinson expresses Nature told her “the simple News.” This shows Dickinson’s relationship with Nature, which is a transcendentalism quality, connecting with Nature. Although Emily Dickinson herself has lived most of her life in her bedroom, she creates her poems through the inspirations of Nature. A typical example is A Narrow Fellow in the Grass, which associates with the danger of Nature. Dickinson may shut herself in her bedroom, but she still has a clear perception of Nature, and she observes Nature and finds inspiration from it.

In I Never Saw a Moor, Emily Dickinson also expresses her views on religion. In the poem, she clearly expresses that she may be restraining herself from connecting to the outer society and the presence of God or Heaven has never been presented to her. However, she still holds a belief that there IS Heaven. Emily Dickinson has discovered herself through the poems she had written, because her poems are her way of expressing of the self. She expresses her belief and speculation on religion through her poems, such as I Never Saw a Moor and Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church. The personal identity can be defined through her poems, which are the concretes of our understanding to her ideas. Dickinson may have sealed herself away from the society, yet her poems are outlets for her individual qualities and self-examination.

However, there is also a part of anti-transcendentalism. In I Took My Power in My Hand, Dickinson had self-doubt. She did not believe in the human potential that she can achieve her dreams, because she starts to doubt if she can reach her goal. She may have courage, yet when she tried her powers out, she witnessed the fall of her ideals, being either too big for her to achieve, or too little power she had to achieve it.

Hannah Park wrote:
I don't get your part about how she tried her powers out and witnessed the fall of her ideals...I think you could've elaborated a bit more there...maybe her reluctance to publish her poems during her life.

In the third paragraph, you said how she's restraining herself from connecting to the outer society...do you think that is more because she's Transendentalist or Anti-Transcendentalist? She could be isolating herself because she knows society confine her(trans) or because maybe she thinks society is evil(anti-trans), or something along those lines...