Document Type

Thesis - University Access Only

Award Date

2004

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department / School

English

First Advisor

Mary R. Ryder

Abstract

The uniqueness of Dickinson's poetry in its own time and its subsequent influence on later modern poets have long been acknowledged, as has her experimentation in form. What has gone virtually unexamined, however, is the extent to which her use of the literary device synaesthesia colored her work both stylistically and thematically. While critics mention occasional lines that demonstrate this technique, no major study focuses on the complexity of Dickinson's synaesthetic imagery or studies Dickinson as a potential synaesthete whose perception of the world was affected both psychologically and physiologically by this condition.

Awareness and use of synaesthesia as a literary device reaches back to the works of Homer, peaking with the French symbolists and romanticists such as Baudelaire, Mallarme, Keats, Shelley, and Byron. While literary synaesthesia has a long history, this technique receives little exposure in writing handbooks at various academic levels. In fact, while scholars have heard of synaesthesia, most cannot give a definition or explanation of its function. The same is true for clinical synaesthesia. Though recognized for at least two hundred years as a medical phenomenon, research remains minimal, but continues to grow as experiments and medical advancements have perpetuated a surge of discoveries.

This study examines both Dickinson's life and work, seeking to uncover the synaesthetic complexities of her poetry's images that so many other scholars have not addressed. The extent of her synaesthetic usage is prolific and beyond the scope of this study, which offers only a sampling of the more unusual intersensory images. Using her poetry as a basis for her perception of the world, this thesis also offers evidence suggesting that Dickinson may have had the medical condition and that her syneasthetic response shaped her principal themes and subjects of her poetry.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886 -- Criticism and interpretation.
Synesthesia in literature.
American poetry -- 19th century -- History and criticism.

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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Rights Statement

In Copyright