A Dinner Party. Emily Dickinson Plate

The Dinner Party is a piece of work depicting place settings for 39 mythical and historical famous women throughout history. The purpose of this work was "meant to end the ongoing cycle of omission in which women were written out of the historical record." I chose Emily Dickinson's plate setting because it was so simply classy but has so much meaning behind it. She was considered one of the most famous poets in the history of American literature. Her honest and uninhibited writing made her an early feminist voice, even as she maintained an outward appearance of submissiveness. Emily's place setting represents the striking contrast between her reclusive, introverted nature and the dynamic mind revealed through her poems. It also represents the Victorian world Emily attempted to break free of through her writing.