A text is absolutely not a writer’s genuine creation, but it principly receives the material and is altered from another text. The concept of intertextuality is constructed by Julia Kristeva (1941-), stressing the interconnection between a text and other prior ones. Intertextuality can be in the form of topics, motifs, images, symbols, and so on, constantly employed by the writer either unconsciously, as believed by Freud, or consciously. In so doing, intertextuality, however, does not mean to diminish creativity in writing; on the contrary, it diversifies the process. Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886), a talented but reclusive American poet, has utilized quite a number of images, symbols, and tales in the Bible, the text of considerable influence in her culture and society, in her poems. Her intertextuality with the Bible sophisticatedly proves her thoughts of the religion and its practice. Her religious experiences, which are interwoven in her poetry, reveal the spirit of liberty and sensitiveness she possesses. Bearing such philosophy in poetry and life, Dickinson can be regarded as a symbol of American soul, with unique and creative individualism. This paper will analyze and clarify the aforementioned proposition, principly using the method of intertextual criticism.
Intertextuality in Emily Dickinson's poetry