Emily Dickinson is a poet whose work has painted a gloomy and depressing picture of the American Civil War that lasted from 1861-1865. This was a time that her poetry reflected on death which can reflect back to the many soldiers that lost their lives in battle. Her poem “341” written in 1862 specifically illustrates the pain that death can bring on the battlefield. Many historical events during 1862 involved famous wars, social change, and innovations that would uplift the United States.
Science, Technology and Ideas:
On Janurary 30, 1862, the first ironclad warship, the USS Monitor was launched by the U.S. Navy. This revolutionary weapon is propelled by steam engines and is shielded with iron which gave it more protection than any other warship of its time. It is mostly famous for its role in the Battle of Hampton Roads where it went up against the Confederate ironclad warship CSS Virginia. Historically, this was the first battle of ironclad warships.
More information: USS Monitor , CSS Virginia, and Battle of Hampton Roads
Arts and Culture:
On July 4th 1862, Lewis Carroll composed the story of the famous novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The inspiration for Caroll’s novel was 10-year old Alice Liddell and her sister’s row boating trip in England.
More information: Lewis Caroll, Alice Liddell, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Social Change:
Slavery was evident during 1862 as the Civil War progressed on, but a major change occurred on March 13th. The U.S. federal government banned all Union soldiers from returning fugitive/runaway slaves. As a result, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which required that whether a slave was in a free state or not, had to be returned to their master. Since the U.S. federal government banned Union soldiers from doing this, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was annulled. Furthermore, this became the stepping stone of freeing all slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation.
More information: Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and Emancipation Proclamation
War, Politics, and Nature:
The first major victory of the American Civil War for the U.S. Union occurred on February 6, 1862 as General Ulysses S. Grant led them to victory by capturing Fort Henry in Tennessee. The name of the battle was the Battle of Fort Henry and the main weapons used were warships and boats.
More information: General Ulysses S. Grant and Battle of Fort Henry
We don’t often view Dickinson as a war poet, but like so many of the poets we read, it becomes our job to try to imagine how those vast historical pressures impacted the poetry itself–even when the poet seems oblivious in any given moment.
Great selection of historical events. Dickinson, like Alice in wonderland, seemed to escape through a sort of fantastic wormhole into an imaginative existence of her own.
In terms of formatting, in future posts you can link within the descriptive text itself rather than including a separate area for additional information that contains the links.