Throughout the years there have been many influential authors in American Literature. Without many of the exceptional authors, our poems and stories would not have reached the potential that they are today. One of these exceptional authors is Emily Dickinson. Dickinson was not known of as a great poet during her life time (Emily Dickinson's Life). After she died, Lavinia (Dickinson’s sister) found the hundreds of poems Dickinson had written (Emily Dickinson's Life). Without these poems American Literature would have been set back many years.
There are many reasons why Emily Dickinson was significant to American Literature. Dickinson paved the way for many of today’s poets. During her lifetime, there was a lack of poetry writers. Even the small amount of poets failed to express their true emotions through poetry. Emily Dickinson was unlike the others in how she wrote. She not only wrote about the problems in society but also her beliefs on love, family, death, and nature (McNaughton 52). After her poems surfaced, other poets took notice. They took after the great Emily Dickinson and expanded their writing ideas.
Today poetry is one of the most popular forms for writing. This was not always true. During the mid 1800’s, there were many events going on in the world (Emily Dickinson's Life). Some of these events are the Civil War and The First World War (Emily Dickinson's Life). Since there were so many important events taking place in the world, there was no time for poetry. Many people strictly read and wrote events about the two wars (Emily Dickinson's Life). Even though this time period was very hard for poets, Dickinson found ways to get through to readers. She always addressed her three main themes of poetry death, love, and nature (McNaughton 53). These themes gained popularity the more they were published. Readers of all genres took notice of how thoughts can be transformed beautifully into a poem (Emily Dickinson's Life). This caused the demand for poetry to increase, and from that year on poetry has gained more and more popularity.
In conclusion, Emily Dickinson is one of the people responsible for what poetry and American Literature are today. Dickinson was able to stand out as a brilliant woman in an unsteady in American Literature (Emily Dickinson's Life). Dickinson is the reason for many of the today’s authors because she paved the way for others by getting poetry noticed by all readers. Poetry was not a popular reading material until everyone saw Dickinson’s poems. They observed the emotion expressed on each line and liked this style of writing. Emily Dickinson’s works have been a model for perfection and originality of American poetry for many years, and her efforts put forth towards the future of American Literature will never be forgotten.