On the project:
Completing this project felt like a huge accomplishment to me. I really feel like my knowledge of Emily Dickinson has cumulated with this project, as I got the chance to display my capability and knowledge of Dickinson through a way other than just a paper. I really enjoyed doing this project because it felt like I was uncovering and solving some mystery, as if the answers are all out there for anyone to find. Of course, they’re not, which is what made this project fun. I got to make all sorts of conclusions that may or may not be true, but there is definitely evidence out there and on my pages that can attest that the conclusions I’ve made have merit. It was extremely rewarding to be able to have something concrete to be able to show anyone that can prove that I do actually know a lot about Dickinson, something I would have never been able to do without making a blog. I also appreciated the digital aspect of this project, as I really liked being able to learn how to use a new platform that I have never used before. WordPress also seems like a more dynamic tool to use for a project like this than Powerpoint or Google Docs/Slides would be.
Through this project, I got to put all of my knowledge of Dickinson together–it felt like a puzzle. Each piece of information that I know about her is meant to fit somewhere, in relation to another piece of information that I know, that makes sense. I felt like a true Dickinson scholar doing this project, fueled by true intellectual curiosity when doing my research. It made me wish that more classes ended with projects like this; while it was structured, there was still a lot of freedom of interpretation that gave me the space to actually be curious about what I was doing and research what I wanted to know more about. I also think that this was a very good example of a holistic project, as I found myself thinking back to almost every class in making each decision for this project. Overall, I had a great time making this blog and think that it was the best possible way to end this class.
On the class:
I went into this class knowing very little about Dickinson–I had a simply but great appreciation for her poetry and knew nothing about her personal life. If I have learned anything from this class, it is that context is so so important. Not only does it help to know where a poet is coming from when writing a poem, but it gives you a whole new level of understanding. It fleshes out, or at least tries to, the hollow center of all poems. Learning about Dickinson’s life, and even seeing it on our Amherst field trip, is something that I will always value because it showed me how crucial context is when interpreting a literary work.
I’d like to end this reflection with my favorite Dickinson poem, because I think it sums up much of what I’ve learned from this class: to always be curious and strive for knowledge, to push against forces that you feel oppressed by, and to recognize magic in everything:
Witchcraft was hung, in History,
But History and I
Find all the Witchcraft that we need
Around us, every Day —