As the Transcendentalist view of nature held by Emerson and Thoreau does not satisfy Emily Dickinson in her doubts concerning nature, the poet purposefully endeavors to redefine it in her poetry. Dickinson's definition involves the main beliefs that nature is knowledge itself which goes beyond man's expression, and that there exists an unbreakable separation and remoteness between nature and man for the former is independent of the latter's mind and indifferent of the latter's interests. The poet's increasing awe of nature's hidden meaning gradually leads to her cool skepticism. Although Dickinson, like Emerson, believes that the reader should attempt his perception and interpretation of the mystery of nature through his own experience, she eventually claims that this mission can never be satisfactorily fulfilled.
