狄瑾蓀詩中的死亡和永生之追求
論文摘要

本論文旨在探討狄瑾蓀詩中歷經死亡以求永生之理念，在基督教思想的薰陶下，尤以耶穌受難及復活為最佳例證，狄瑾蓀在其詩中充分闡釋此一看法並發展出一套她個人獨特的哲學觀，那就是—以退為進、先捨後得，及否極泰來。
本文共分五章，第一章為引言。狄瑾蓀認為人世間一切的苦難、折磨、失落等在在都是為了死後能擁有愉悅永生在鋪路，就如同耶穌在世時受盡羞辱磨難後得到天父的救贖一樣。基於此，狄瑾蓀相信自願放棄世俗物質的報償是值得的；忍受棄絕世上一切所帶來的苦痛是通往天堂的唯一道路啊！
第二章加以深入探討狄瑾蓀認為人在這世上最主要的任務之一就是要去接受挑戰、歷經危險、體驗失敗、及承受痛苦，並從中得到救贖的希望、精神的報酬，及永生的承諾。這些主張都明顯地印證在狄瑾蓀的詩中。
第三章針對狄瑾蓀過著孤立生活時的最愛—自然一物作討論。狄瑾蓀眼中的自然萬物就像人類一樣，是步行在週而復始的生命旅途中的—從希望的誕生、快樂的成長、悲傷的衰落、痛苦的死亡，到最後也是最重要的，盎然的再生。到最後又回到原點，所以人生是沿著一個圓圈在旅行著，而這旅途是持續地在進行著的。
第四章主要探討在狄瑾蓀詩中耶穌基督以人子的身分，化為肉身接受死亡並光榮復活為例子，來引申出世上一切的痛苦、折磨、羞辱、失落等在將來是會被天父的恩典—救贖、復活、及永生一一所補償平反的。如此一來，當人類面臨死亡威脅時就不會那麼害怕消極了，因為死亡帶來了救贖的希望及永生的承諾。
狄瑾蓀在其詩中運用『以退為進、先捨後得、否極泰來』的哲學觀念在在都證明了她秉棄世俗的短暫一切是個明智之舉，這理念也奠定了她在詩歌寫作上的獨創性並顯現出她的先見之明。

Dickinson's Quest: Death and Immortality
Abstract

Emily Dickinson is placed with Walt Whitman in the first rank of nineteenth century American poets. In this thesis, it aims at discussing Dickinson's unique canon, a canon that mainly deals with a quest for immortality through death, a subject of less-is-more, under the influence of Jesus Christ (who serves as the best illustration in Dickinson's Christian training) and this concept is powerfully exemplified in her poetry.
In Chapter I, I will advance Dickinson's peculiar strategy: to renounce is to possess more, a strategy of less-is-more. Dickinson believes that her stances and postures as a poet of renunciation, rejecting material offerings, will establish herself as the one who can obtain the unearthly rewards in the long run. Since the self-imposed renunciation will lead to a triumphant glory, Dickinson desperately assumes her belief that “Renunciation—is a piercing Virtue—” (#782) in this life.
Chapter II captures the same theme as Chapter I, a motif that Dickinson conceives pain in this life as an incentive to usher joy in the life everlasting. The suggestive value comes after trials; therefore, mankind must have patience to endure struggle and suffering in his quest of that value, even at the expense of his life. Since the compensation of anguish will ever be endowed in the next world, it is asserted that man's duty on earth is to seek out danger and benefits from it. Whatever the cost might be, the greater reward from heavenly beatitude is exposed in a way through deprivation and loss in this life. For this reason, Dickinson expounds, “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—” (#764) to express her main idea.
In Dickinson's life of renunciation, moreover, nature becomes her favorite friend, and thus perceiving nature with keen and visionary insight characterizes her poetry on nature, which is my precise concern in Chapter III. As natural cycles indicated in the sun's change—from sunrise, noon, sunset, to night—the fact reveals Dickinson's notion that man's existence is like nature's—from birth, maturity, decline, to death. All suggest everything comes a full circle to where it begins; it is an endless cycle of generativity. The sunset or man's death, on this score, never results in a final stage in each other's journey of quest, but rather generates a refreshed one in the place of renewal and rebirth, as the famous poem, “There's a certain Slant of light” (#320) marks.
For the reason that the sun indeed symbolizes God the Son, so the sunrise and sunset are an allusion to Jesus Christ's birth and death on the crucifix, and Chapter IV will exemplify Jesus as a brilliant model that serves to flesh out Dickinson's central canon: redemption gained through suffering. The extent to which triumphant salvation is born out of Christ's renunciation and crucifixion demonstrates Dickinson's argument in her “Because I could not stop for Death—” (#479). Death itself rather stops for her, and it also entails the possibility to be elected to immortality. Jesus's death, from Dickinson's vantage point, renders the signification that God the Father has assigned to death a place in the redemptive pattern; consequently, God the Son's self-sacrifice, at any rate, is a redemptive death; he is never a dark scapegoat.
By and large, adopting the strategy of less-is-more in Dickinson's quest of immortality presents to us the means by which she can fulfill “The spreading wide my narrow Hands / To gather Paradise—” (#466) in the long run; an achievement not only proves her self-willed renunciation as a witty stance, but exemplifies her ingenuity in poetry.

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