Emily Dickinson can be viewed as a rebel because she
challenged many traditional notions that people had at that time. For instance, in her
poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," Dickinson rejects the social tradition of
marriage by suggesting that death is a charming suitor. The poem begins with Death being
personified as a man coming to date the speaker. Death takes the speaker in a carriage
around town, past schools and fields, and the speaker suggests the encounter is rather
pleasant. Some may see the poem as pessimistic -- after all, most people do not desire
to die; however, Dickinson manages to portray a rather lovely, albeit tragic,
relationship. Dickinson's refusal to conform to social convention and her reclusive,
poetic nature are in an of themselves challenges to what society expected of women at
that time. She did not become a wife. She stayed in her room and wrote what she
desired.
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