A Study On Julia Kristeva's Feminist Poetics And Emily Dickinson's Poetry

The American poetess Emily Dickinson,who was born in the nineteenth century,is known for her rebellious writing skills,and her poetry shows features of the modernist poetry.Besides,these features correspond to some theories of French philosopher Julia Kristeva.The thesis consists of five chapters in total:Chapter One gives an introduction to Emily Dickinson,Julia Kristeva and her theories;then it sums up the previous researches on Emily Dickinson and her poetry in China and abroad;finally,it presents the purpose,methodology and structure of the study.Chapter Two is the theoretical framework of the study.Section One expounds the theory of poetic language;Section Two expounds the theory of abjection;Section Three expounds the relationship between Kristeva and feminism;Section Four presents two modern artists whom Kristeva commends for the revolutionary nature of their art.Dickinson shares this kind of nature,and Kristeva's theories are applicable to the analysis of her poetry.Chapter Three analyzes Dickinson's poetry by adopting Kristeva's theory of the semiotic.The semiotic is one of the two elements in poetic language.The chapter consists of three sections: respectively “Ellipsis”,“Disjunction” and “Repetition”.The analysis of these unconventional writing skills that are present in Dickinson's poetry shows her strong emotion and feminist awareness.Chapter Four analyzes Dickinson's poetry by applying Kristeva's theory of abjection.The chapter consists of four sections: respectively “The Abject as a disruptive element”,“The Abject as the ‘lost thing'”,“Hatred towards the Abject” and “the Abject as ‘sublimation'”.The chapter analyzes the different kinds of the abject that are present in Dickinson's poetry to reveal the different functions of the abject in her poetry.Chapter Five is the conclusion part.The thesis draws a conclusion that Dickinson and Kristeva share the similar feminist view.Both of them endeavor to seek the equality of woman,and long for a harmonious dialogue between the two sexes.In short,Emily Dickinson's poetry shows a deviation from the traditional writing criterion,and her use of unconventional writing skills corresponds to Kristeva's theories of poetic language and abjection.Both poetic language and abjection have association with the feminine,which aims to subvert the patriarchal domination.In this sense,they are the staunch defenders of feminism.