艾米莉·狄金森的矛盾性
摘要
19世纪美国诗坛上有一个独特的亮点，恰似一位神话人物，她生前默默无闻，与世隔绝，死后却声名鹊起，万人瞩目。她被誉为“最伟大、最具创造性的诗人”和“西方自萨福以来最伟大的女诗人”(江枫2)。她就是艾米莉·狄金森，一个创作丰富风格独特却谜一般的人。在她去世一百多年后的今天，众多读者和学者依然对她的诗歌驻足留连，情有独钟。
狄金森的诗歌主要包括自然、宗教、爱情，人生、死亡等几大类，这些诗歌表面简朴，实则寓意深刻。诗人的世界是一个由心灵构筑的自我世界，这个世界充满矛盾、对立和混乱。这个世界短暂无常，杂乱无章，已知和未知界限模糊且有着千丝万缕的联系。狄金森的宗教观，自然观，爱情观早已不是新鲜话题，但是至今评论界尚无定论。通过诗人短暂的一生以及她那些伟大的诗作，不难发现，狄金森始终在矛盾中徘徊，矛盾是其人生及诗歌的主要内容，她的自然观、宗教观、性别观以及爱情观都折射出她自身的矛盾心理。本文旨在研究狄金森的矛盾性主要基于以下原因：
首先，狄金森是美国文学界最伟大的诗人之一，她的诗歌一直是评论界的焦点，但是，要真正读懂她的诗歌绝非易事。目前国内对她的研究依然处于起步阶段，论文数量和质量与国外研究都有很大差距。作为狄金森诗歌重要特点之一的矛盾性，曾经有研究者提及并对其产生的根源做过简单分析，但是对于这一论题国内尚缺乏较细致深入系统的研究，值得进一步讨论。
其次，矛盾性在狄金森诗歌中无所不在，这已经成为她诗歌的鲜明特征，而由此引发的晦涩难懂更为她的形象蒙上了神秘的色彩，并为诗歌增添了艺术魅力。其实，狄金森诗歌中的矛盾并不奇怪，相反，这真实地反映了她内心的彷徨与困惑，细腻多样的感情，敏感丰富的想象，以及来自社会和传统的熏陶。国外研究者从70年代便开始采用多视角的审美方式来分析讨论狄金森的诗歌，试图用一种更加接近常人的姿态来阐释狄金森形象。因此，重新认识狄金森诗歌中的矛盾性不但有助于更好的理解她的诗歌，还有助于解释她自身生活中的一些有悖常理的现象从而对其以常人的姿态来正确定位。
论文主体共有四章，第一章主要通过分析狄金森的自然诗发现她的自然观是矛盾对立的。一方面，她热爱自然，以细腻的观察力注视自然界的每一种情调，诗歌中涉及到自然的方方面面，包括神奇的四季、壮美的太阳与大海以及“丛林中美丽的居民”(《英美名诗解读》39)。另一方面，自然在她眼中是冷酷无情的，他总是漠视人类的苦难，却从不指引方向，亦不提供保护，这使狄金森忍无可忍，她觉得人类与自然的这种关系是无法打破无法改善的，从而产生对自然敌对甚至仇视的态度。
第二章重点分析狄金森的宗教诗进而发掘她的宗教观。毫无疑问，狄金森不是宗教诗人，她一生没有接受基督，无论诗歌还是个性她都时时透着叛逆。但是，生活在宗教气氛浓厚的19世纪新英格兰地区，她无法避免地受到宗教的影响。她通晓《圣经》，能娴熟地运用其中的教义并能信手拈来地将典故运用于日常生活，在她的诗歌中能找到很多宗教及宗教诗歌的影子。她也赞美耶稣，称赞他是温驯的绅士，并对他舍身救信徒的无私行为大加赞叹。然而，她对上帝始终怀有一种怀疑态度，她责备上帝不公，冷酷，甚至谴责蔑视上帝的权威。总之，她对宗教是一种既虔诚又富于挑战的矛盾态度。
作为生活在性别不平等社会的女诗人，狄金森尤其能注意到性别给她带来的不公与无奈。第三章着眼于狄金森对性别的矛盾态度，主要从两个方面讨论。首先，她对男性的态度是矛盾的，一方面，她贤慧温顺，希望引起男性的关注与爱怜。另一方面却勇于挑战男性本位的社会，勇敢反抗性别引起的不公。其次，她对女性作为妻子角色以及婚姻的态度也是矛盾的。一方面，她强烈蔑视社会赋予妻子的责任和地位，在诗歌中号召女性奋起反抗寻找自己的幸福。另一方面她却写了很多梦想婚姻甚至假想自己成为妻子的诗。这个特点与从小受父母的影响有很大关系，她的父母是传统观念的完美组合，父亲强势专横，母亲微弱谦卑，这使狄金森既对父亲不满又对母亲不屑，从而引发了她对婚姻既向往又恐惧的复杂心理。
爱情作为生活中必不可少的成分，自古以来一直频繁出现在作家尤其是女作家的笔下，狄金森也毫不例外。第四章主要讨论狄金森对爱情的矛盾态度，尽管在现实生活中从未找到爱的港湾，她却毕生都在追求爱情，在诗歌中她对爱情的表达方式是多样的，时而以柔弱温顺的雏菊自居以引起异性的同情，时而直率狂热不拘一格表达爱情信念的执著与真诚。但是，在内心深处，她有着对爱情以及爱人的怀疑，她不信任爱情亦不相信爱人的忠诚与专一，所以，当她毕生追求的爱情到来时，她却退缩放弃，或许她想得到的只是一种精神上的安慰。但是由于她含混的表达，没有人能准确把握她的心理。不过有一点是确凿的，那就是对爱情的矛盾心理以及她所遭遇的挫折严重伤害了她，她选择独居，一个人体会巨大的伤痛和煎熬。
狄金森诗歌中的矛盾对立真实地重现了一个心思细腻、渴望爱情、思想先进、追求平等自由却深受传统以及宗教观念的束缚的女性形象，生动地展现出她内心的挣扎与苦闷，这与她细腻聪慧的性格、独特的生活经历以及敏锐的文学天赋有很大关系，但是，作为时代的产物，她也不可避免地受到社会坏境的熏陶。虽然终身独居，她始终通过通信与外界保持联系，知道外界的主流发展及趋势。美国建国初期的欣欣向荣，内战期间的萧条悲观都对她造成了一定的影响。可以说，狄金森生活的环境本身就是矛盾的，一方面是崇尚改革强调个人主义，发展如火如荼的美国新生力量，另一方面却是清教主义气氛浓厚，强调传统，凡事以《圣经》为准则的阿默斯特小镇。新旧文化的冲击使狄金森无所适从，她无法彻底舍弃其一，于是，矛盾的思想便出现在诗歌中，神秘而令人回味无穷。
除了对主题的态度，狄金森的写作手法也是含混的，不管是句法措辞，文本形式的不确定性还是多种面具人物的出现，所有的含混都说明她无论性格还是思想意识都是矛盾、复杂、多面的，可以说，狄金森诗歌的矛盾性实际上表现了诗人矛盾困惑的思考及感受过程，也体现了变迁时代对她的认识论和世界观的重大影响，而正是这些矛盾使这位“阿默斯特修女”在诗歌创作中别具一格，在彷徨中走向永恒。
Emily Dickinson, regarded as important as Walt Whitman and Edgar Alan Poe, is one of the greatest poets in American literature. In The Life of Emily Dickinson, Sewall wrote: "Genius is ultimately unaccountable, and none more so than Emily Dickinson's" (Sewall 17). She lived in New England with dense religious atmosphere and was never married all her life. After her death, she left nearly 1800 poems and contributed greatly to the society.
Dickinson's poems are diversified in theme, rich in content and profound in thoughts. Her creative themes are various, the contents are rich, and the thoughts are profound. Her poems can be generally divided into several types, religion, nature, love and death. They seemed on the surface to be quite simple but in fact, they had profound meanings in nature. Dickinson's world was a self-world constructed by herself. This world was full of paradox, contradiction and babelism. Dickinson's outlooks on religion, nature and love were not fresh any longer, however, there were not exact conclusions by critics. After the close reading of her poems and life experiences, it is not difficult to make a conclusion that she was always wandering in paradox and contradiction was an important part in her life.
The reasons for choosing Dickinson's contradiction as the research subject are as follows: first, as one of the greatest poet in American literature, Dickinson's poems are always the focus of attention. Her poems are quite difficult to understand but it is obscurity that catches more and more people's attentions. In China, the research on her is still at the threshold and compared with American researchers, there is a great distance. As one of the most important features in Dickinson's poems, contradiction was once mentioned by some researchers. But there is not a detailed study and it needs a further discussion. Second, contradiction manifests itself in different ways in Dickinson's poems. Actually, it becomes Dickinson's one basic characteristic, which makes her and her poems more attractive and mysterious. Dickinson's contradiction is not strange, instead, it reflects the bewilderment and anguish in her mind, her exquisite and various emotions, profound and rich imagination and the influence of the society and the traditions. Overseas researchers began to analyze her poems from various angles, and they tried to interpret Dickinson as a normal woman. Therefore, the analysis of Dickinson's contradiction is helpful for better understanding her poems as well as the oddness in her life.
This thesis, therefore, is a case study of Dickinson's contradiction with a particular emphasis on nature, religion, gender, and love through a close reading of her poems.
The main body falls into four chapters. Chapter One is devoted to the analysis of her poetry on nature. Her attitudes towards nature were paradoxical. On one hand, she loved nature and tried to praise it in detail. On the other hand, she believed that nature was a cruel and merciless man who disregarded people's trouble and tribulation and never tried to help and save them, which made Dickinson disappointed and despaired. Generally speaking, Dickinson had a posture of paradox and contradiction. Both the optimistic nature conception and the pessimistic nature conception coexisted in her poetry. From her youth till death, she always had these two contrary attitudes to nature.
Chapter Two discusses her poems about religion. Undoubtedly, Dickinson was not a religious poet and she never accepted religion all her life. However, Living in the little town in New England with dense religious atmosphere, she was inevitably influenced by religion. She was familiar with The Bible and could use its teachings and quotations skillfully in poems and daily life. As a result, similar to religious poems, her poems had many features of religion. She often praised Jesus and called him a docile gentleman. Nevertheless, she doubted God and often condemned him of his unfairness and mercilessness. Anyway, her views about religion were both devotional and challenging.
Living in a patriarchal society, Dickinson recognized clearly that her position as well as other women's was not equal to men's. Therefore, Chapter Three pays much attention to her viewpoints to gender role, which has two parts. First, her attitudes towards men were contradictory. Sometimes, she pretended to be submissive and timid in order to attract men's attentions and affections. Meanwhile, she tried to fight for the due rights that men had. Second, her attitudes towards the gender role as a traditional wife were also ambivalent. She disdained the responsibility and position of women prescribed by tradition, however, at the same time, she wrote many poems in the hope of a wedding and to be a wife. This was closely related to her family, which was a perfect combination from the perspective of Puritanism. Her father was autocratic while her mother was submissive, which caused Dickinson's dissatisfactions with the traditional family pattern and resulted in her complicated feelings over the gender role and marriage.
As the most important theme in literature, love also appeared frequently in Dickinson's poems. Chapter Four concentrates on her attitudes to love. Although she never got love, Dickinson kept pursuing love all her life. Her expressions to love were various, sometimes, she was submissive and timid, while other times, she was frank and bold. Anyway, Dickinson was active and positive in her pursuit of love and when she expressed her love, she was bold and direct. However, she didn't trust love and lover, therefore, when the love she pursued all her life came, she hesitated and refused it at last.
Contradiction in Dickinson's poems revealed struggle and agony in her mind, which maybe was resulted of her special life experiences and sensitive literary talents, however, as the product of times and the society, she was inevitably influenced by surroundings which mainly manifested themselves in historical and societal background, religion and philosophy as well. She was inspired by the aspiring mainstream in American early years and saddened by the troublous times in civil war. Generally speaking, the period Dickinson lived in was contradictory, which was mixed with the new power that advocated advancement and reformation and the traditional force in Amherst. She was struggling in the conflicts between two contradictory cultures, which led to contradiction in her poems and life.
狄金森的诗歌主要包括自然、宗教、爱情，人生、死亡等几大类，这些诗歌表面简朴，实则寓意深刻。诗人的世界是一个由心灵构筑的自我世界，这个世界充满矛盾、对立和混乱。这个世界短暂无常，杂乱无章，已知和未知界限模糊且有着千丝万缕的联系。狄金森的宗教观，自然观，爱情观早已不是新鲜话题，但是至今评论界尚无定论。通过诗人短暂的一生以及她那些伟大的诗作，不难发现，狄金森始终在矛盾中徘徊，矛盾是其人生及诗歌的主要内容，她的自然观、宗教观、性别观以及爱情观都折射出她自身的矛盾心理。本文旨在研究狄金森的矛盾性主要基于以下原因：
首先，狄金森是美国文学界最伟大的诗人之一，她的诗歌一直是评论界的焦点，但是，要真正读懂她的诗歌绝非易事。目前国内对她的研究依然处于起步阶段，论文数量和质量与国外研究都有很大差距。作为狄金森诗歌重要特点之一的矛盾性，曾经有研究者提及并对其产生的根源做过简单分析，但是对于这一论题国内尚缺乏较细致深入系统的研究，值得进一步讨论。
其次，矛盾性在狄金森诗歌中无所不在，这已经成为她诗歌的鲜明特征，而由此引发的晦涩难懂更为她的形象蒙上了神秘的色彩，并为诗歌增添了艺术魅力。其实，狄金森诗歌中的矛盾并不奇怪，相反，这真实地反映了她内心的彷徨与困惑，细腻多样的感情，敏感丰富的想象，以及来自社会和传统的熏陶。国外研究者从70年代便开始采用多视角的审美方式来分析讨论狄金森的诗歌，试图用一种更加接近常人的姿态来阐释狄金森形象。因此，重新认识狄金森诗歌中的矛盾性不但有助于更好的理解她的诗歌，还有助于解释她自身生活中的一些有悖常理的现象从而对其以常人的姿态来正确定位。
论文主体共有四章，第一章主要通过分析狄金森的自然诗发现她的自然观是矛盾对立的。一方面，她热爱自然，以细腻的观察力注视自然界的每一种情调，诗歌中涉及到自然的方方面面，包括神奇的四季、壮美的太阳与大海以及“丛林中美丽的居民”(《英美名诗解读》39)。另一方面，自然在她眼中是冷酷无情的，他总是漠视人类的苦难，却从不指引方向，亦不提供保护，这使狄金森忍无可忍，她觉得人类与自然的这种关系是无法打破无法改善的，从而产生对自然敌对甚至仇视的态度。
第二章重点分析狄金森的宗教诗进而发掘她的宗教观。毫无疑问，狄金森不是宗教诗人，她一生没有接受基督，无论诗歌还是个性她都时时透着叛逆。但是，生活在宗教气氛浓厚的19世纪新英格兰地区，她无法避免地受到宗教的影响。她通晓《圣经》，能娴熟地运用其中的教义并能信手拈来地将典故运用于日常生活，在她的诗歌中能找到很多宗教及宗教诗歌的影子。她也赞美耶稣，称赞他是温驯的绅士，并对他舍身救信徒的无私行为大加赞叹。然而，她对上帝始终怀有一种怀疑态度，她责备上帝不公，冷酷，甚至谴责蔑视上帝的权威。总之，她对宗教是一种既虔诚又富于挑战的矛盾态度。
作为生活在性别不平等社会的女诗人，狄金森尤其能注意到性别给她带来的不公与无奈。第三章着眼于狄金森对性别的矛盾态度，主要从两个方面讨论。首先，她对男性的态度是矛盾的，一方面，她贤慧温顺，希望引起男性的关注与爱怜。另一方面却勇于挑战男性本位的社会，勇敢反抗性别引起的不公。其次，她对女性作为妻子角色以及婚姻的态度也是矛盾的。一方面，她强烈蔑视社会赋予妻子的责任和地位，在诗歌中号召女性奋起反抗寻找自己的幸福。另一方面她却写了很多梦想婚姻甚至假想自己成为妻子的诗。这个特点与从小受父母的影响有很大关系，她的父母是传统观念的完美组合，父亲强势专横，母亲微弱谦卑，这使狄金森既对父亲不满又对母亲不屑，从而引发了她对婚姻既向往又恐惧的复杂心理。
爱情作为生活中必不可少的成分，自古以来一直频繁出现在作家尤其是女作家的笔下，狄金森也毫不例外。第四章主要讨论狄金森对爱情的矛盾态度，尽管在现实生活中从未找到爱的港湾，她却毕生都在追求爱情，在诗歌中她对爱情的表达方式是多样的，时而以柔弱温顺的雏菊自居以引起异性的同情，时而直率狂热不拘一格表达爱情信念的执著与真诚。但是，在内心深处，她有着对爱情以及爱人的怀疑，她不信任爱情亦不相信爱人的忠诚与专一，所以，当她毕生追求的爱情到来时，她却退缩放弃，或许她想得到的只是一种精神上的安慰。但是由于她含混的表达，没有人能准确把握她的心理。不过有一点是确凿的，那就是对爱情的矛盾心理以及她所遭遇的挫折严重伤害了她，她选择独居，一个人体会巨大的伤痛和煎熬。
狄金森诗歌中的矛盾对立真实地重现了一个心思细腻、渴望爱情、思想先进、追求平等自由却深受传统以及宗教观念的束缚的女性形象，生动地展现出她内心的挣扎与苦闷，这与她细腻聪慧的性格、独特的生活经历以及敏锐的文学天赋有很大关系，但是，作为时代的产物，她也不可避免地受到社会坏境的熏陶。虽然终身独居，她始终通过通信与外界保持联系，知道外界的主流发展及趋势。美国建国初期的欣欣向荣，内战期间的萧条悲观都对她造成了一定的影响。可以说，狄金森生活的环境本身就是矛盾的，一方面是崇尚改革强调个人主义，发展如火如荼的美国新生力量，另一方面却是清教主义气氛浓厚，强调传统，凡事以《圣经》为准则的阿默斯特小镇。新旧文化的冲击使狄金森无所适从，她无法彻底舍弃其一，于是，矛盾的思想便出现在诗歌中，神秘而令人回味无穷。
除了对主题的态度，狄金森的写作手法也是含混的，不管是句法措辞，文本形式的不确定性还是多种面具人物的出现，所有的含混都说明她无论性格还是思想意识都是矛盾、复杂、多面的，可以说，狄金森诗歌的矛盾性实际上表现了诗人矛盾困惑的思考及感受过程，也体现了变迁时代对她的认识论和世界观的重大影响，而正是这些矛盾使这位“阿默斯特修女”在诗歌创作中别具一格，在彷徨中走向永恒。
Emily Dickinson, regarded as important as Walt Whitman and Edgar Alan Poe, is one of the greatest poets in American literature. In The Life of Emily Dickinson, Sewall wrote: "Genius is ultimately unaccountable, and none more so than Emily Dickinson's" (Sewall 17). She lived in New England with dense religious atmosphere and was never married all her life. After her death, she left nearly 1800 poems and contributed greatly to the society.
Dickinson's poems are diversified in theme, rich in content and profound in thoughts. Her creative themes are various, the contents are rich, and the thoughts are profound. Her poems can be generally divided into several types, religion, nature, love and death. They seemed on the surface to be quite simple but in fact, they had profound meanings in nature. Dickinson's world was a self-world constructed by herself. This world was full of paradox, contradiction and babelism. Dickinson's outlooks on religion, nature and love were not fresh any longer, however, there were not exact conclusions by critics. After the close reading of her poems and life experiences, it is not difficult to make a conclusion that she was always wandering in paradox and contradiction was an important part in her life.
The reasons for choosing Dickinson's contradiction as the research subject are as follows: first, as one of the greatest poet in American literature, Dickinson's poems are always the focus of attention. Her poems are quite difficult to understand but it is obscurity that catches more and more people's attentions. In China, the research on her is still at the threshold and compared with American researchers, there is a great distance. As one of the most important features in Dickinson's poems, contradiction was once mentioned by some researchers. But there is not a detailed study and it needs a further discussion. Second, contradiction manifests itself in different ways in Dickinson's poems. Actually, it becomes Dickinson's one basic characteristic, which makes her and her poems more attractive and mysterious. Dickinson's contradiction is not strange, instead, it reflects the bewilderment and anguish in her mind, her exquisite and various emotions, profound and rich imagination and the influence of the society and the traditions. Overseas researchers began to analyze her poems from various angles, and they tried to interpret Dickinson as a normal woman. Therefore, the analysis of Dickinson's contradiction is helpful for better understanding her poems as well as the oddness in her life.
This thesis, therefore, is a case study of Dickinson's contradiction with a particular emphasis on nature, religion, gender, and love through a close reading of her poems.
The main body falls into four chapters. Chapter One is devoted to the analysis of her poetry on nature. Her attitudes towards nature were paradoxical. On one hand, she loved nature and tried to praise it in detail. On the other hand, she believed that nature was a cruel and merciless man who disregarded people's trouble and tribulation and never tried to help and save them, which made Dickinson disappointed and despaired. Generally speaking, Dickinson had a posture of paradox and contradiction. Both the optimistic nature conception and the pessimistic nature conception coexisted in her poetry. From her youth till death, she always had these two contrary attitudes to nature.
Chapter Two discusses her poems about religion. Undoubtedly, Dickinson was not a religious poet and she never accepted religion all her life. However, Living in the little town in New England with dense religious atmosphere, she was inevitably influenced by religion. She was familiar with The Bible and could use its teachings and quotations skillfully in poems and daily life. As a result, similar to religious poems, her poems had many features of religion. She often praised Jesus and called him a docile gentleman. Nevertheless, she doubted God and often condemned him of his unfairness and mercilessness. Anyway, her views about religion were both devotional and challenging.
Living in a patriarchal society, Dickinson recognized clearly that her position as well as other women's was not equal to men's. Therefore, Chapter Three pays much attention to her viewpoints to gender role, which has two parts. First, her attitudes towards men were contradictory. Sometimes, she pretended to be submissive and timid in order to attract men's attentions and affections. Meanwhile, she tried to fight for the due rights that men had. Second, her attitudes towards the gender role as a traditional wife were also ambivalent. She disdained the responsibility and position of women prescribed by tradition, however, at the same time, she wrote many poems in the hope of a wedding and to be a wife. This was closely related to her family, which was a perfect combination from the perspective of Puritanism. Her father was autocratic while her mother was submissive, which caused Dickinson's dissatisfactions with the traditional family pattern and resulted in her complicated feelings over the gender role and marriage.
As the most important theme in literature, love also appeared frequently in Dickinson's poems. Chapter Four concentrates on her attitudes to love. Although she never got love, Dickinson kept pursuing love all her life. Her expressions to love were various, sometimes, she was submissive and timid, while other times, she was frank and bold. Anyway, Dickinson was active and positive in her pursuit of love and when she expressed her love, she was bold and direct. However, she didn't trust love and lover, therefore, when the love she pursued all her life came, she hesitated and refused it at last.
Contradiction in Dickinson's poems revealed struggle and agony in her mind, which maybe was resulted of her special life experiences and sensitive literary talents, however, as the product of times and the society, she was inevitably influenced by surroundings which mainly manifested themselves in historical and societal background, religion and philosophy as well. She was inspired by the aspiring mainstream in American early years and saddened by the troublous times in civil war. Generally speaking, the period Dickinson lived in was contradictory, which was mixed with the new power that advocated advancement and reformation and the traditional force in Amherst. She was struggling in the conflicts between two contradictory cultures, which led to contradiction in her poems and life.
引文
Allen, William. Preface to Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship. Boston: Peirce, 1835.
Amand, Barton Levi St. Emily Dickinson and Her Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Anderson, Charles R. Emily Dickinson's Poetry: Stairway of Surprise. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1960.
Armand, Barton Levi St. Emily Dickinson and Her Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Bianchi, Martha Dickinson. The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1924.
Bingham, Millicent Todd. Ancestor's Brocades: The Literary Debut of Emily Dickinson. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945.
Cady, Edwin H. & Louis J. Budd. eds. On Emily Dickinson: The Best from American Literature. Durham: Duke UP, 1990.
Chase, Richard. Emily Dickinson: A Biography. New York: William Saoane Associates, 1951.
Cosy, John. After Great Pain: The Inner Life of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Driel, Joanne Feit. Dickinson and the Romantic Imagination. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.
DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. Writing beyond the Ending: Narrative Strategies of Twentieth-Century Women Writers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Complete Essays and Other Writings Of Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Random House Inc, 1950.
Farr, Judith. The Passion of Emily Dickinson, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Farr, Judith. Emily Dickinson: A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Drentice Hall, 1996.
Ferlazzo, Paul J. Emily Dickinson. Boston: Twayne Publisher, 1976.
Franklin, R. W. ed. The Master Letters of Emily Dickinson. Amherst: Amherst College Press, 1986.
Franklin, R. W. ed. The Pomes of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge Massachusetts, and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999.
Friedman, Susan Stanford. "'Beyond' Gynocriticism and Gynesis: The geographics of Identity and the Future of Feminist Criticism", Tulsa studies in Women's Literature 15.1 (1996): 13-40.
Higgins, David. Portrait of Emily Dickinson: The Poet and Her Prose. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1967.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. "Emily Dickinson's Letters", The Atlantic Monthly 68(October 1891).
Homans, Margaret. Women Writers and Poetics Identity: Dorothy Wordsworth, Emily Bronte, and Emily Dickinson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980.
Howells, William Dean. "The Poem of Emily Dickinson", Haper's Magazine, 82 (January 1891), pp. 318-321.
Hughes, Ted. A Choice of Emily Dickinson's Verse. London: Faber & Faber, 1968.
Johnson, Thomas H. ed. Emily Dickinson Selected Letters. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
Knapp, B. L. Emily Dickinson. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 1989.
Lodge, David. ed. 28Century Literary Criticism. London: Lonman Press, 1972.
Martin, Wendy. An American Triptych Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Adrienne Rich, London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
Miller, Cristanne. Emily Dickinson: A Poet's Grammar. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Petrino, Elizabeth A. Emily Dickinson and Her Contemporaries: Women's Version in America, 1820-1885. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1998.
Porter, David. The Art of Emily Dickinson's Early Poetry. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966.
Porter, David. Dickinson: The Modern Idiom. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Rich, Adrienne. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, ed. Nina Baym, New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.
Rich, Adrienne. "Vesuvius at Home: The Inner Life of Emily Dickinson", HSL, 4 (1972), pp. 174-179.
Rubinstein, Annette T. American Literature Root and Flowers. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1988.
Sewall, Richard Benson. The Life of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1980.
Stein, Roger B. John Ruskin and Aesthetic Thought in America, 1840-1900. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967.
Stonum, Gary Lee. The Dickinson Sublime. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. Emily Dickinson. New York: Knopf, 1986.
常耀信：《美国文学简史》，天津：南开大学出版社，1990年。
常耀信：《美国文学史》，天津：南开大学出版社，1998年。
辜正坤译：《莎士比亚十四行诗集》，北京：北京大学出版社，1998年。
江枫：《狄金森名诗精选》，西安：太白文艺出版社，1997年。
刘守兰：《英美名诗解读》，上海：上海外语教育出版社，2003年。
刘守兰：《狄金森研究》，上海：上海外语教育出版社，2006年。
罗志野：《西方文学批评史》，南宁：广西师范大学，1991年。
茅于美：《中西诗歌比较研究》，北京：中国人民大学出版社，1987年。
张澄寰：《郭沫若论创作》，上海：上海文艺出版社，1982年。
Amand, Barton Levi St. Emily Dickinson and Her Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Anderson, Charles R. Emily Dickinson's Poetry: Stairway of Surprise. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1960.
Armand, Barton Levi St. Emily Dickinson and Her Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Bianchi, Martha Dickinson. The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1924.
Bingham, Millicent Todd. Ancestor's Brocades: The Literary Debut of Emily Dickinson. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945.
Cady, Edwin H. & Louis J. Budd. eds. On Emily Dickinson: The Best from American Literature. Durham: Duke UP, 1990.
Chase, Richard. Emily Dickinson: A Biography. New York: William Saoane Associates, 1951.
Cosy, John. After Great Pain: The Inner Life of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Driel, Joanne Feit. Dickinson and the Romantic Imagination. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.
DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. Writing beyond the Ending: Narrative Strategies of Twentieth-Century Women Writers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Complete Essays and Other Writings Of Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Random House Inc, 1950.
Farr, Judith. The Passion of Emily Dickinson, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Farr, Judith. Emily Dickinson: A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Drentice Hall, 1996.
Ferlazzo, Paul J. Emily Dickinson. Boston: Twayne Publisher, 1976.
Franklin, R. W. ed. The Master Letters of Emily Dickinson. Amherst: Amherst College Press, 1986.
Franklin, R. W. ed. The Pomes of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge Massachusetts, and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999.
Friedman, Susan Stanford. "'Beyond' Gynocriticism and Gynesis: The geographics of Identity and the Future of Feminist Criticism", Tulsa studies in Women's Literature 15.1 (1996): 13-40.
Higgins, David. Portrait of Emily Dickinson: The Poet and Her Prose. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1967.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. "Emily Dickinson's Letters", The Atlantic Monthly 68(October 1891).
Homans, Margaret. Women Writers and Poetics Identity: Dorothy Wordsworth, Emily Bronte, and Emily Dickinson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980.
Howells, William Dean. "The Poem of Emily Dickinson", Haper's Magazine, 82 (January 1891), pp. 318-321.
Hughes, Ted. A Choice of Emily Dickinson's Verse. London: Faber & Faber, 1968.
Johnson, Thomas H. ed. Emily Dickinson Selected Letters. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
Knapp, B. L. Emily Dickinson. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 1989.
Lodge, David. ed. 28Century Literary Criticism. London: Lonman Press, 1972.
Martin, Wendy. An American Triptych Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Adrienne Rich, London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
Miller, Cristanne. Emily Dickinson: A Poet's Grammar. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Petrino, Elizabeth A. Emily Dickinson and Her Contemporaries: Women's Version in America, 1820-1885. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1998.
Porter, David. The Art of Emily Dickinson's Early Poetry. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966.
Porter, David. Dickinson: The Modern Idiom. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Rich, Adrienne. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, ed. Nina Baym, New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.
Rich, Adrienne. "Vesuvius at Home: The Inner Life of Emily Dickinson", HSL, 4 (1972), pp. 174-179.
Rubinstein, Annette T. American Literature Root and Flowers. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1988.
Sewall, Richard Benson. The Life of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1980.
Stein, Roger B. John Ruskin and Aesthetic Thought in America, 1840-1900. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967.
Stonum, Gary Lee. The Dickinson Sublime. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. Emily Dickinson. New York: Knopf, 1986.
常耀信：《美国文学简史》，天津：南开大学出版社，1990年。
常耀信：《美国文学史》，天津：南开大学出版社，1998年。
辜正坤译：《莎士比亚十四行诗集》，北京：北京大学出版社，1998年。
江枫：《狄金森名诗精选》，西安：太白文艺出版社，1997年。
刘守兰：《英美名诗解读》，上海：上海外语教育出版社，2003年。
刘守兰：《狄金森研究》，上海：上海外语教育出版社，2006年。
罗志野：《西方文学批评史》，南宁：广西师范大学，1991年。
茅于美：《中西诗歌比较研究》，北京：中国人民大学出版社，1987年。
张澄寰：《郭沫若论创作》，上海：上海文艺出版社，1982年。