Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth: this is the refrain we hear in the psalm today. Often, artistic creativity such as singing or painting or writing a poem can express our experience of the divine in our lives in a mystical way when mere words can suffice. Speaking of poetry, we commemorate the anniversary of the death of one of the most significant American poets. Emily Dickinson was not Catholic and would not have identified herself as a member of a particular Christian denomination. However, she often attended church services until the age of 30, when she stopped going. Furthermore, there is certainly a search for the divine and a search for spiritual direction in her poetry. Her poetry was heavily influenced by the Puritanism that still had a very strong presence in the 19th century New England where she lived all her life. An eccentric hermit most of her life, her more than 1,700 poems were not discovered by her family until after her death, as she shared them with very few friends during her lifetime. Emily Dickinson died on this date in 1886. She is now considered one of the most significant figures in American poetry. Her poetry seemed to struggle between faith and doubt in her attempts to interpret God’s creation that she observed in the world around her. Emily Dickinson’s approach to life was certainly unique. Perhaps we can learn from her in her tenacity and creativity a way to search for God in our daily lives, even if that path God calls us to is one that is not trodden by many.
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