SOURCE: “‘Looking at Death, is Dying’: Understanding Dickinson's Morbidity,” in Approaches to Teaching Dickinson's Poetry, edited by Robin Riley Fast and Christine Mack Gordon, The Modern Language Association of America, 1989, pp. 155-63.

In the following essay, St. Armand discusses Dickinson's stance toward death in her poetry as a mixture of the influences of her Puritan heritage and her Romantic historical context.

Looking at Death, is Dying— Just let go the Breath— And not the pillow at your Cheek So Slumbereth— 

(281)

“But she's so morbid!” is an often-heard lament from fresh readers of Emily Dickinson's poetry, whether they be sixteen or sixty. Those over sixty, or those who have been exposed to a conservative ethnic background where traditional funeral and mourning customs still prevail and who are familiar with old women dressing completely in black as an outward and visible sign of prolonged inner and immedicable grief, will have...