Emily Dickinson’s “This is my Letter to the World” functions as an epistolary preface to her body of work. The form of the letter functions as a perfect metaphor as it an eloquent means of communication. The letter is a means of communication that has a one-to-one or one-to-many correspondence.

Erika Scheurer in her essay “Near, but Remote: Emily Dickinson’s Epistolary Voice” tells us that “while Dickinson did not value writing over speech, she did value dialogic writing and speech over monologic writing and speech. “A letter is also a more durable document than a spoken statement.” Emily Dickinson being a perfect recluse was not a person of much words. This was the perfect medium to express her innermost thoughts. Dickinson appears to be in line with Bakhtin’s notion of dialogism and Derridia’s subversion of phonocentrism.

A ‘letter’ synonymous with the word ‘alphabet’ is also emblematic of education. Emily Dickinson desires to pass on the meaningful messages that Nature imparted her with to the world steeped in worldly principles. It was well beyond the times for a woman to come up with such lofty ideals. Emily Dickinson was much ahead of her times. Which is why barring two poems, her entire volume was published only after her death.…