To make a prairie

Transcendentalism was a 19th-century literary movement that coincided with Emily Dickinson poetry production. Scholars define Transcendentalism as “an American literary, philosophical, religious, and political movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson” ("Transcendentalism." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003). Dickinson herself was not considered a Transcendentalist, though her work is couched within and inspired by other Transcendentalist authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller. Transcendentalists often critiqued society and wrote against conformity. Some academics have argued that Dickinson’s work contains hints of Transcendentalism throughout a selection of her poems, declaring,

She appears to search for the universal truths and investigate the circumstances of the human condition: sense of life, immortality, God, faith, place of man in the universe. Emily Dickinson questions absolutes and her argumentation is multisided. The poetic technique that she uses involves making abstract concrete” ("Transcendental Legacy in Literature." American Transcendentalism Web).

Some could argue that “To make a prairie” features some of these themes. The reverie espoused in the poem represents self-reliance and innovation (“Self-reliance” being the name of one of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s most famous essays). Also, the discussion of industry and creating a place for oneself attempts to answer the question of purpose and belonging.