Surfs Up Dickinson

Although Dickinson was not the most experienced surfer, many of her poems were similar with the action of surfing. Dickinson’s poems embodied the beauty, rhythm, and ideals of the American people. Because Dickinson wrote in the period following the Civil War, she often wrote about subject that would not have bee written about, the beauty of the world. Her poems acted as a pillow, softening the blow of the war. Around one-hundred years later, the Hawaiian act of surfing began to get popular. People all around the world admired surfing’s relaxing feel, complexity, and delicacy. Emily Dickinson’s poems share profound similarities with the act of surfing.

Surfing connects nature's simplicity with the surfer; this is parallel to Dickinson’s poems as she connects nature's beauty with the wounded American people. While riding a wave all distractions disappear. One's skill determines what he or she does on a wave; however, nature is in control. All that lay between one and the water is a styrofoam board. One thoroughly embraces the greater forces and flows with it. The surfer has no control where the wave will carry him or her; however, he or she still goes with it. The surfer literally becomes one with the wave. As a surfer, one is merely an observer of nature. The beauty is elicited from each wave. Surfing’s connection with nature is similar to Dickinson’s poems. Following the Civil War, the American people were spiritless and let down. It was a time when people looked for hope and fortune. Dickinson did not help people gain hope; yet, she gave reader a strong relationship with nature. In Dickinson’s poem “Nature,” she goes into profound detail about the connections one is able to have with nature. “Nature is what we know—/yet have no art to say—/so impotent our wisdom is/to her Simplicity” (Lines 9-12). Dickinson does an outstanding job in helping the American people. She helps one develop a personal relationship with nature. Her poems helped aid people in their recovery from the Civil War. Dickinson’s poems and surfing both acts as a bridge between a person inner self and nature’s beauty.

Dickinson's style of writing can be related to the physical act of surfing a wave. Although each one of Emily Dickinson’s poems is unique in its way, the style of her writing remains constant. All of her poems flow. Each word rolls off the reader’s tongue easing one into the poem. In Dickinson’s poem “I’ll tell you how the sun rose,” the wording of each line connects perfectly with the previous lines. “I’ll tell you how the sun rose, - a ribbon at a time. The steeples swam in amethyst, the news like squirrels ran” (Lines 1-4). The copious number of “s” sounds allow the reader to flow from line to line. This idea of rolling from word to word is exactly how a surfer feels when powering down a wave. As one surfs wave, he or she moves with the water. Instead of the commonly thought idea of riding on top of a wave, the rider flows with it. The sense of togetherness with the wave unparalleled. The closest example to the flowing of a wave is Dickinson’s style of writing, it just seems to go.

When surfing, one channels an otherwise unfound part of oneself. The minute someone gets up on a wave, a somewhat supernatural force takes over and allows a totally different person to come out. Channeling this special personality is also seen throughout Emily Dickinson’s poems. Dickinson expresses ideas through different points of view, making each of her poems highlight some of her different characteristics. Dickinson rarely speaks from her point of view. In many of Dickinson’s poems, she assumes different personas. These different personas show readers who Emily Dickinson is. Dickinson may not feel comfortable speaking from her point of view but when writing as a different person many of Dickinson’s hidden values come out. In her poem “I Could Not Stop for Death,” Dickinson writes about something that she never had actually witnessed. “Because I could not stop for death--he kindly stopped for me-- the carriage held but just ourselves-- and immortality” (Lines 1-4). Dickinson’s poem discusses about what she thinks about death. This poem, however, is not 100 percent accurate of what Dickinson had witnessed. The reader cannot tell who is talking. Dickinson’s persona helps strengthen her opinion about death. As a person surfs, he or she shares a similar experience as Dickinson had while she wrote her poems.  As one surfs, he or she can be whoever. When one gets up on a wave, different emotions and personalities take over a person. Like Dickinson’s personas, surfing makes people feel differently than they “usually” do.

The act of surfing can be compared with the ideas behind Emily Dickinson’s poems. Both surfing and Dickinson’s poems share similarities; moreover, they share similar ideas. When reading Dickinson’s poems one relates with her many ideas, while when surfing one can harness nature’s many meanings. Surfing helps people understand how small one is in the whole scheme of things. Although surfing and Emily Dickinson’s poems are two completely different things, they are still similar.